Culturebox: David Foster Wallace

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assessment David Foster Wallace Why he inspires such devotion in his fans. By Nathan Heller Posted Thursday, April 21, 2011, at 12:06 PM ET Most writers are forgotten by the time they're laid to rest; some lucky ones, in time, claw their way back from down below and don the lonely robes of literary sainthood. David Foster Wallace, who hanged himself with a belt nearly three years ago, has spent life after death drawing parade crowds on a fast path to beatification. Since Wallace's suicide at 46, his public star has climbed so high that recent publication of his book-in-progress, The Pale King, threatens to eclipse even Nabokov's unfinished novel. DFW fans have performed literary acts of faith en masse, in public, and in ever-growing congregations. Two years back, a Web book club called Infinite Summer took on Wallace's 1,000-plus-page second novel. His newest book, which has no clear ending, has been abridged and read out loud onstage. Wallace archives abound; he has published more volumes since dying than during any two-and-a-half-year stretch of his life. DFW never lacked an eager audience, but he cautioned against playing to the expectations of a literary following. In death, he's been transformed into the kind of writer that, in life, he would have found deeply suspicious. It is not at once clear how Wallace's work has reached this level of esteem. In a chronically fickle marketplace for serious fiction, his long, slippery, painfully frank books stand out mostly for their crags and challenges: A reader encountering the mature DFW for the first time will find a swell of nonlinear narrative, a patina of academic argument (a favorite gambit: "I submit ..."), and a thatch of lengthy and digressive footnotes. The man himself--underdressed, overinformed, speaking with the halting care of someone used to leaning on the backspace key--stood out as a flamboyant nebbish even in a nebbish-packed profession. Lots about Wallace's style and subjects portend critical success, but almost nothing projects popularity. Why has he earned the sort of following that usually flows to genre writers and canonized masters? To continue reading, click here. Nathan Heller is a Slate copy editor. He also writes the magazine's "Assessment" column. Follow him on Twitter. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate The Libertarian Who Could Be the Next Ron Paul, Except for One Thing: Ron Paul Does Wonkette Deserve To Be Boycotted After Its Jokes About Trig Palin? Peer-to-Peer Lending Is Finally Here, and It Could Make You a Lot of Money	Advertisement
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