David Foster Wallace, a once-in-a-generation writer, died Friday of an apparent suicide at the age of 46.
It would be easy to dwell on the darkest aspects of that death. After all, his best-known novel, “Infinite Jest,” includes a character who commits suicide by sealing his head in a microwave.
But Wallace’s abyss-gazing moments were written alongside the brilliant magnesium flash of ideas, hopeful and exuberant, inspirational and true.
With that in mind, here are some excerpts from a colossal talent.
In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.
Kenyon Commencement Speech, 2005
Truly decent, innocent people can be taxing to be around.
“The View from Mrs. Thompson’s”
Forget so-called peer pressure. It’s more like peer-hunger. No?
“Infinite Jest”
Have we actually become so selfish and scared that we don’t even want to consider whether some things trump safety? What kind of future does that augur?
“Just Asking”
I do not find terror exciting. I find it terrifying. One of my basic life goals is to subject my nervous system to as little terror as possible.
“Ticket to the Fair”
This reviewer is thus, as a private citizen and an autonomous agent, both Pro-Life and Pro-Choice. It is not an easy or comfortable position to maintain.
“Authority and American Usage”
I think I no longer believe in monsters as faces in the floor or feral infants or vampires or whatever. I think at 17 now I believe the only real monster might be the type of liar where there’s simply no way to tell. The ones who give nothing away.
“Infinite Jest”
You can’t kill time with your heart. Everything takes time. Bees have to move very fast to stay still.
“Forever Overhead”
Compiled by Herald writer Andy Rathbun arathbun@heraldnet.com
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