David Foster Wallace's essays have their own unique cult following. There’s one, “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again,” which is a hilarious diatribe about cruise ships, which convinced many of us we should never, ever go on a cruise.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
An excerpt from the commencement speech David Foster Wallace gave at Kenyon College in 2005.
Michael Pietsch was David Foster Wallace's editor since the early 1990s. He also edited Wallace's unfinished novel "The Pale King," published posthumously in 2011. Pietsch, executive vice-president and publisher at Little, Brown and Co., spoke with Anne Strainchamps before the novel was released.
Journalist DT Max tells Steve Paulson about David Foster Wallace's creative struggles with the novel he left unfinished when he committed suicide in September of 2008. It's called "The Pale King" and explores Wallace's longtime preoccupation with boredom.
David Lipsky is the journalist portrayed in “The End of the Tour,” a film about Lipsky's 5-day road trip with David Foster Wallace. The two hit it off, sharing a wide-ranging conversation about fame, depression, pop culture and junk food. Speaking to Jim Fleming for "To The Best of Our Knowledge" in 2009, Lipsky remembers Wallace and traces the evolution of the depression that ultimately claimed his life.
Melissa Joulwan — A.K.A. "Melicious" — didn't know what to expect when she joined a roller derby team. What she found was camaraderie, a new athleticism and personal empowerment.
Kelly Link writes what she calls "slipstream fiction" — magical realist with a strong dose of weird.
Some of the world's most celebrated scientists and artists have been dyslexic. Cognitive scientist Maryanne Wolf says dyslexia can be a gift, but schools must learn how to teach dyslexics to read.
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