Have not read enough of his fiction yet to comment. But his journalism! I’ve been in the business 40+ years and now think he’s the best “reporter” I’ve ever read. Yes, he will be missed, deeply.

I will celebrate what he gave me - beautiful pristine prose that inspired me and enriched me. He was a man with great gifts and a too too sensitive heart.My heart goes out to his family and their beautiful boy -

Brilliance is in short demand these days. Wallace had it. He was complicatedly eloquent. Simplistic yet over-doing it. He’ll be missed. He was way too young to die. There was so much left to be written.
I actually had a physical reaction to reading his death…

Qué terrible pérdida. DFW era sensible, divertido, inteligente, fabulosamente ingenioso: insuperable.
No te olvidaré tío.

to anonymous,
I totally disagree - This is absolutely a KEY moment to start investigating “conspiracy theories” as you refer to them. This type of unexplainable suicide is happening quite alot lately, and NOTHING should ever be taken at face value anymore. Who else has died mysteriously in like fashion?: Gary Webb, Hunter S. Thompson, Dr. Bruce Ivans, Barry Jennings, the D.C. madam who threatened to spill the dirt on key Bush insiders (There are others whose names I cannot recall) It is essential that we put up some fight, people. Please Google the above names and do some research for yourselves. Truth seems to be in short supply.

It is time to mourn and remember a great writer - not a time to start silly conspiracy theories about whether or not this was a “real” suicide, for goodness’ sake. Let the man rest in peace.

just reading infinite jest- one of the very few truly good published books in recent years.in that weird way that it always does it makes sense- no disrespect intended- sensitivity gave him his bite; but the fucker bites back. condolences/much respect.

I agree with Isabel.David Foster Wallace maybe could not accept anymore the destiny of the human beings and of the beings in generally(and the loabster had to be considered the symbol of a weakness that u could protect and defend with difficulty or u can’t at all).DFW not has accepted the existence of pain and of suffering, even if he has sacrified the instinct of maintenance.

all or some of the above but: too violent a choice; the wife.

I have been haunted with this untimely death for two days now. Outside it is the time of the full moon and it seems like the fate of the world is hanging in a balance for all of us. It’s no wonder that a mind so fine and so caring and so attuned to suffering as to consider the fate of the lobster’s pain could not have stood the suffering of the world one minute longer. We will miss him terribly and it will be long before someone makes me laugh and hurt as much as he did with all his writing!

One of the greatest minds in my generation & generations past…a tremendous loss

One of the greatest minds in my generation & generations past…a tremendous loss

James Joyce once wrote that Ireland is the old sow that eats her farrow. When I think of the list of recent American writers who have done away with themselves– John Kennedy Toole, Breece DJ Pancake, Iris Chang, Hunter Thompson, Michael Dorris, and now David Foster Wallace– I wonder whether in a kinder society this wouldn’t have happened.

Robert wrote:
“Annother tragic permanent solution to a temporary problem”

According to his father, David was treated for depression for the last 20 years. His doctor advised him to stop taking medication last year because of the toll the side-effects were taking on him. Following this, his depression returned. Over the past summer, he was hospitalized multiple times, and his even tried electro-convulsive therapy to combat his depression. His father described him as recently being “very heavily medicated”. And in the end, he could not take it anymore.

So, it was far from a “temporary problem”. I hope he has found peace at last.

Wow…this is shocking and sad news. Can’t understand why he did this.

All the interviews and readings and talks i watched showed him to be extraordinary and humble. we need more such precious guides among us. i suspect i will learn something in his books that lifts me closer to a giving place, so I can pick up a tiny fraction of the slack in his absence.

Right. I was six when Lennon got killed. I can still see my mother crying. Now, my freind has killed himself. It hurts badly. F. it!

David Foster Wallace is dead but somehow George W. Bush still lives. Go figure.

Another suicide!?…of another influential writer who was trying to disseminate truth and wake up a sleeping population. How many more will be “suicided” before good people get off their butts and start speaking out?HE WAS OFFED!

I just can´t believe it, he´s one of the genius of our time, this world sucks… all my best wishes for his family in this horrible days,
Henry,
Barcelona, Spain

He’s my favourite author. And now he’s gone. This is still not happening. It’s just not.

so it goes.

i can’t believe this

Went to college with him. He was fine, brilliant, a great writer - makes no sense why David would do this and then Dan Brown, also from Amherst College, remains to spout out more garbage.

Rest in piece, DFW.
I hope you’re in a better place, wherever you are.

It sounds very suspicious. Why did this successful writer suddenly hang himself? Is it a coincidence that he wrote pieces on John McCain that were less than flattering and now he’s “offed” himself? Hmmmm…..Makes me wonder what else he had written that didn’t make it to the public eye.

I knew him personally and I knew him well. I’ve never been able to connect with someone on such a personal level. I truly knew that he cared and supported me for who I was. Your support is very much appreciated.

This is very sad news. I’ve never heard of this writer. It just goes to show how badly I need to start reading more than the New York Times. I will pick up a copy of Infinite Jest and start reading.

Annother tragic permanent solution to a temporary problem.

that’s so sad :[

rip

Not a week ago I reccomended DFW to a budding writer with the cliched admonition: “a decent writer always writes but an exceptional writer always reads, and you need to read this guy.” It made me feel cooler to have DFW as a contemporary.

I feel like I’ve lost a childhood friend — one who totally understood me, spoke my language and got my jokes.

…that’s what we all gotta be, even after hearing about this. If you looked up to him for his writing, don’t do it for his dying. Don’t make him a role model in this. If you’re thinking about the big “S”, talk to somebody, call a crisis hotline, or something! The ones left behind suffer immensely - go ask the suddenly bereaved Mrs. Wallace & family…

This is what learning about John Lennon’s murder felt like.

Infinite Jest is the best novel of the 20th century. May peace be with him and his family.

I am very sad. I just took out my paperback Infinite Jest to hold and remember. I hope David is absorbed into the boundless space of memories, moments, now able to swim to and explore the edges of his experience in leisure.

a terrible loss. i won’t anymore have the chance to feel the excitement i used to, finding a new dfw book in the booksore. i can’t believe it

Just unbelievable. Our greatest loss. There are so many direct references to suicide in his work, but,I never really thought …

He was the best writer under 50 in America. I am stunned beyond belief and bet I won’t even get the satisfaction of a note. We have been deprived of a immense talent we won’t see the likes of again.

DFW was the greatest writer of this or any generation. My heart goes out to all that knew him…

my god, you said it. it shook me to the BONE when i heart this news. he has been such a part of my life. it truly fills me with sorrow… rip dfw. his writing has at times helped me to decide to go on living. this is such a tragedy….

I wonder who offed him?

Why? I haven’t felt this kind of sorrow in a couple years.

I wish the wallace family well..

I can’t think another artist, whose death would affect me more. DFW is deeply in my brain and in my heart.