More tragedy: David Foster Wallace dead in Claremont

On a day of sad news, more sad news, this time out of Claremont involving a beloved writer. Joel Rubin reports:

David Foster Wallace, the novelist, essayist and humorist best known for his 1997 tome "Infinite Jest," was found dead last night at his home in Claremont, according to the Claremont Police Department. He was 46. Jackie Morales, a records clerk at the Claremont Police Department, said Wallace's wife called police at 9:30 p.m. Friday saying she had returned home to find her husband had hanged himself. Wallace won a cult following for his dark humor and ironic wit, which was on display in such books as "Girl with Curious Hair" and "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men." In 1997, he received a MacArthur "genius" grant. Born in Ithaca, New York, Wallace was teaching writing at Pomona College.

-Shelby Grad

Comments

[Simon]

The picture accompanying this article really should be changed to the actual cover of the book, rather than the reader's companion by a different author.

See http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/63377/david-foster-wallace-rip.

[WriteWithFire]

I come from a family marked deeply by depression that has sometimes bloomed into bipolar-like episodes. The apparent suicide of David Foster Wallace who, apparently shares that background compells sorrow and sympathy.

Yet, it is one thing to suffer, another to transmogrify that suffering into a world view that affects the naive, the young, the ignorant. Mr. Wallace's death comes only weeks after CDC reports on a trend of suicides and STDs among teenagers and young adults. A culture of futility, richly imagined though it might be, almost inevitably transports to a culture of narcissim, and spiritual, even physical, death. The literature of fuility corners our young and leaves them with fewer choices every day. In my youth it was Vonnegut.

The tragedy here extends beyond the great loss and heavy grief of one family.

[tt]

dark humor stops being funny when the purveyor of the aforementioned does himself in. wallace was a wonderful writer, his work helped me get through each day; i wish the formula had worked better for him.