David Foster Wallace

David Foster Wallace

Steve Rhodes (CC-BY)

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Original Air Date: 
August 23, 2009

When David Foster Wallace committed suicide in September of 2008, there was a tsunami of grief. Readers, writers and critics poured out their sorrows in print and online. If you hadn't been paying attention for all the love for DFW, the response might have caught you by surprise. Wallace's hyper-intimate, cerebral writing style and his witty, sincere persona made him a spokesperson for his generation. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the life and work of David Foster Wallace.

If you're having thoughts of suicide or are in emotional distress, call the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988. 

DT Max on the Letters and Unfinished Work of David Foster Wallace

Audio

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 Foster Wallace on 'Infinite Jest'

Tennis in the Sierpinski triangle
Audio

The most famous thing David Foster Wallace wrote is "Infinite Jest," his huge, sprawling novel set in a dystopian near future. It’s a little eerie how well he predicted our world today.

Length: 
3:40

Our final conversation with David Foster Wallace

David Foster Wallace
Audio

Over the years, we did several interviews with Wallace himself. The last was in 2004, about his collection of short stories — "Oblivion." It’s an interview that’s been collected in two Wallace anthologies.

Length: 
11:34

'Life Can Become This Incredibly Funny, Sharp, Alive Thing.' David Lipsky remembers David Foster Wallace

David Foster Wallace in 2006
Audio

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.

Michael Pietsch on 'The Pale King'

The Pale King
Audio

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. 

David Foster Wallace on 'A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again'

Cruises suck
Audio

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.

'I can still hear his voice': Amy Wallace-Havens remembers her brother

Roadtrip
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Amy Wallace-Havens didn’t care whether David was famous, or even whether he was a writer. He was just her big brother. Anne spoke with her about a year after his death.
 

Length: 
9:18

David Foster Wallace delivering 'This is Water'

water
Audio

An excerpt from the commencement speech David Foster Wallace gave at Kenyon College in 2005.

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Background Music: Everywhere You Turn, --Comfortably Numb, --Reciting the Airships, --The Pacifist, --'Souvenirs', 'Danced All Night', 'The Pall Bearers', --Five String Serenade, --Edge of the World, --The Long Road, --Dirty Blonde

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August 23, 2009
September 12, 2010
Guests: 

David Foster Wallace

Author
To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Amy Wallace-Havens

fivedials.com

D.T. Max

Journalist

David Lipsky

Editor

Michael Pietsch

Editor
Categories: 
Literature
Last modified: 
November 01, 2023