The LA Times is reporting that ‘Infinite Jest’ writer David Foster Wallace has committed suicide. His wife [Karen Green] told Claremont police that the novelist and humorist who wrote ‘Infinite Jest’ hanged himself Friday night. 

No reason given for his suicide.

In addition to his scribbling, David Foster Wallace was also a professor at Sonoma College in Claremont, where he taught creative writing, but was on leave this semester.

He had this thing about avoiding irony in writing, but I wonder if he’ll make an exception and find some irony in his death. If not irony, the least you can expect from him is a bucketload of acidic humor about why he felt the need to hang himself.

He was also the author of a witty and very much appreciated travel essay in Harper’s magazine (subscription required Update - Harper’s has opened up DFW’s articles to everybody, no subscription required…) called ‘Shipping Out: On the (Nearly Lethal) Comforts of a Luxury Cruise’. Here’s a short excerpt from the essay which skewered and highlighted the nutty aspects of cruise travel.

I have now seen sucrose beaches and water a very bright blue. I have seen an all-red leisure suit with flared lapels. I have smelled suntan lotion spread over 2,100 pounds of hot flesh. I have been addressed as “Mon” in three different nations. I have seen 500 upscale Americans dance the Electric Slide. I have seen sunsets that looked computer-enhanced. I have (very briefly) joined a conga line. I have seen a lot of really big white ships. I have seen schools of little fish with fins that glow. I have seen and smelled all 145 cats inside…

Somebody who can write stuff like this needs to be honored. I’m sure the guys manning the Pearly Gates will soon be at the recieving end of some cutting edge signature DFW essays.  R.I.P. David Foster Wallace….

Posted on September 14th, 2008 by Thomas
Filed under: News