Endnotes: David Foster Wallace (BBC Documentary)

Professor Geoff Ward discusses the life and works of David Foster Wallace

"When David Foster Wallace hanged himself in 2008, at the age of 46, he was considered by many to be the most gifted and linguistically exuberant American novelist and short story writer of his generation. His books include the 1,000-page Infinite Jest, a novel of grand ambition and stylistic experiment that came complete with 388 endnotes. (Footnotes, digressions, constant second guessing of every thought are features of Wallace's signature style).

In April The Pale King, Wallace's final, unfinished novel will be published. Few literary novels have been more eagerly anticipated in recent years. Its great subject is Boredom. Wallace set himself big challenges. Infinite Jest attacked the entertainment industry while trying to entertain and The Pale King engages with boredom as a path toward transcendence.

This Sunday Feature is presented by Professor Geoff Ward, author of a literary history of America. He, like many, was convinced Wallace would be the preeminent American writer to reckon with in the years ahead, and was shocked by his tragic early death. He assesses Wallace's legacy, themes and preoccupations, talking to the precursor Wallace admired most, Don DeLillo, and to friends, collaborators and contemporaries such as Mark Costello and Rick Moody. In the company of the writer's sister, Amy Wallace, Ward travels to the Midwest of America where the writer grew up, and considers the impact of place on his imagination. He also talks to Wallace's publisher and editor Michael Pietsch about the difficult task of assembling Wallace's final fragments into The Pale King.

The programme also contains some rare archive reflections by a young David Foster Wallace, recorded a year before the publication of Infinite Jest, on the role of the writer in an age of media saturation." (BBC Radio 3)

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[travisnealtodd70]

Picked up a copy of The Pale King at Powell's today, surprised to see it out so soon. I thought it was being released on tax day. Can't wait to dive in. Too bad it's his last work.

[SuperTrancend]

can't wait for the pale king

[AGreenerGreen]

27:03 the warning that should be on every television..

[jamezburgundy]

thank you so much for posting this

[LeonSpinx1]

'The self-consuming solipsism of a culture crying out for community'--great condensation of 1000 tough pages.

[labbylove]

a loss--his pain must have been unimaginable-

[Theomastus]

What a loss we have all suffered. Goodbye, David- you are missed by many people.

[antonietto1]

A so sweet,brilliant and lovely person.  What a huge lost for the world literature...we'll never forget him

[KennyReddwooddforest]

Humans have the ability to understand abstract concepts. Yet most of them do not question anything, anyone, nor any miserable situation which they are in. David Foster Wallace points out to us in his stories how hideously humans allow about any situation which causes them to suffer horrendously, just because they do not question anything. Once humans would begin to question their lives, authorities, corporations, religions, themselves, things would begin to become ethical and loving and healthy.

[llebieck]

Thank you so much for posting this. This is the best piece about DFW I've heard or read since his death. Ward provided much insight. The narrated selections from Dave's writing were perfect. The contributions from his sister Amy and friend Mark Costello were touching and illuminating. DFW was so much more than his depression. A great place to learn more about the kind of person DFW was is McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Memories of David Foster Wallace.

[8xngc]

7:10 tennis, trigonometry, tornadoes

[tmcavoy33]

Thank you for sharing.