Best books by David Foster Wallace

David Foster Wallace was an American author who the literary world lost far too soon. As a talented American novelist, essayist, and short-story writer, he remains a postmodern literature icon in America and the rest of the world.

In this article, you’ll find David Foster Wallace’s best books and everything there is to know about the author.

A biography of David Foster Wallace

Born in Ithaca, New York, in 1962, David Foster Wallace attended Amherst College, earning a B. A. degree in 1985. While he was completing a creative writing master’s degree in 1987, he published his debut novel named The Broom of the System.

Later, he became a creative writing and English teacher at Pomona College and Illinois State University and published various essays in Harper’s Magazine and The New Yorker.

In 1990, he published Signifying Rappers: Rap and Race in the Urban Present, which he wrote with Mark Costello.

His most famous book is his second novel, Infinite Jest, published in 1996. It took Wallace four years to complete the novel that features a unique writing style. The author’s use of endnotes to reproduce the ambivalence of human thoughts would later become his trademark.

Wallace published various short story collections, including Good Old Neon, in 2004. He also gained recognition for his nonfiction work.

The last piece of Wallace’s fiction to be published in his lifetime was a novella called Something to Do with Paying Attention (2005). The Pale King, an unfinished novel edited by his longtime editor Michael Pietsch, was published posthumously in 2011.

Wallace had suffered from clinical depression since he was a young man. In 2008, while living in Claremont, California, he took his life at age 46. Millions of fans mourned his death. However, his best friend Jonathan Franzen revealed Wallace wasn’t a saint. Many scandalous stories started to emerge, including his relationship with Mary Karr. After the author’s death, she admitted that their relationship at the time was volatile and occasionally violent.

Many authors have eulogized the life and work of Wallace since his death, including D. T. Max and Thomas Pynchon. A film about the life of the author called The End of the Tour was released in 2015.

Best David Foster Wallace books

If you’re just discovering David Foster Wallace’s remarkable work, here are his best books to add to your reading list.

Infinite Jest

Infinite Jest features various characters, from recovering alcoholics to high school tennis stars. The central theme of the novel is the constant human pursuit of happiness.

The novel dives into a deeply philosophical yet comical analysis of entertainment and how it affects human lives and relationships with others. Don DeLillo’s work partially influenced the novel.

Consider the Lobster

Consider the Lobster is a collection of essays in which Wallace answers the most esoteric questions. The author’s entertaining and comical writing style covers the most varied subjects, including a vicious presidential race, a war between dictionary writers, and whether or not lobsters feel pain.

A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again

A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again is a collection of essays in which the author discusses different subjects, including television, the Illinois State Fair, David Lynch films, and more. In this nonfiction work, the author uses the same writing style, full of curiosity and scathing humor.

Girl with Curious Hair

Girl with Curious Hair is one of Wallace’s most honest and touching works. In this collection of short stories, he examines love and relationships, grief and pain.

Both Flesh and Not

Both Flesh and Not was published in 2012, after Wallace’s death. Fifteen of the seminal essays he wrote throughout his twenty-year career are compiled in this book.

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men is a short story collection where the author ventures inside the mind of the most diverse characters. The hideous men in the stories have a bizarre fear of women, turning them into grotesque caricatures of people.

This is Water

In This is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life, Wallace publicly talks about his views of life. The book includes the transcript from Wallace’s commencement address at Kenyon College in 2005. After Wallace’s death, the commencement speech was reprinted in various newspapers, including the London Times and the Wall Street Journal.

The Broom of the System

The Broom of the System was David Foster Wallace’s debut novel. Set in the 1990s, it follows the story of Lenore Stonecipher Beadsman and her great-grandmother. The latter has disappeared from a nursing home with 25 other inmates.

Oblivion

Oblivion is a collection of short stories in which the author overviews humans as self-conscious beings. This topic has been one recurrent theme for Wallace throughout his career.

In one of the stories, The Soul is Not a Smithy, Wallace depicts a father’s loneliness, his son’s daydreaming, and a teacher’s homicidal breakdown.

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FAQ

What happened to David Foster Wallace?

David Foster Wallace suffered from depression in his early 20s. Despite submitting to different treatments, he never recovered. He committed suicide in 2008.

What was David Foster Wallace most famous for?

David Foster Wallace is most famous for his second novel, Infinite Jest.

What was David Foster Wallace’s philosophy?

Influenced by Wittgenstein, David Foster Wallace’s philosophy was a metaphysical doctrine of fatalism. This doctrine establishes that human decisions and actions don’t influence future events.

Was David Foster Wallace brilliant?

David Foster Wallace was a brilliant writer and thinker. However, he did write about intelligence being a dumb thing on occasion.

Where did David Foster Wallace live?

David Foster Wallace lived in Illinois.

What does David Foster Wallace think about the US?

He thinks people in the US are cynical. According to the author, people see everything as a performance. Instead of appreciating a person’s virtue or qualities, they see it as a way to gain something, whether money or fame.

Who was David Foster Wallace’s favorite president?

David Foster Wallace’s favorite president was Ronald Reagan.