David Foster Wallace

David Foster Wallace was an American writer born in Ithaca, New York, in 1962. He became one of the most discussed voices in American fiction in the 1990s, admired for long, inventive novels, sharp short stories and essays that mixed reporting, comedy and moral seriousness. His prose is known for its dense footnotes, its restless intelligence and its interest in loneliness, addiction, entertainment and the effort of paying real attention in a noisy world. He taught at several American colleges and wrote for magazines as well as publishing books. His giant novel Infinite Jest made him famous, and his essays and a widely shared graduation speech reached many readers who never opened the novel. He died in 2008, aged 46. Since then his work has continued to be read, argued over and taught.