About
David Foster Wallace was an American writer born in Ithaca, New York, and raised in Illinois. After studying at Amherst College and earning an MFA from the University of Arizona, he published his first novel, The Broom of the System, in 1987. His magnum opus, Infinite Jest (1996), a satirical novel of over a thousand pages, is famous for its extensive endnotes. A MacArthur Fellow in 1997, he taught creative writing at Pomona College. He died in 2008. His posthumous novel The Pale King was published in 2011.
* 1962-02-21 — † 2008-09-12
Major works
- The Broom of the System (1987)novel
- Infinite Jest (1996)novel
- A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again (1997)essays
- Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (1999)short stories
- The Pale King (2011)novel
Key milestones
- 1985Earns a B.A. in English and philosophy from Amherst College.
- 1997Receives the MacArthur Fellowship ("genius grant").
- 2002Becomes the Roy Edward Disney Professor of Creative Writing at Pomona College.
Themes
addictionentertainmentsolitudeironyself-awareness
Sources: hachettebookgroup.com · amherst.edu · id.loc.gov