Introduction

by Stephen J. Burn

a collection of interviews gathered after Wallace's death

Chronology

by Stephen J. Burn

• born feb 21 1962 in Ithaca NY (James D. Wallace, Sally Foster Wallace); moves to Urbana IL six months later
• 1980: starts at Amherst and rooms with Mark Costello
• spring 1982-fall 1983: takes these two semesters off to drive a school bus and read
• spring 1985: graduates summa in English, Philosophy
• fall 1985: starts MFA program at Universit of Arizona
• jan 1987: Broom is published
• aug 1987: graduates from Arizona; goes to Yaddo; takes position as visiting instructor at Amherst
• 1998: first critical essay (Fictional Futures) is published; starts writing to Franzen
• 1989: GCH is finally published; spends Aug at Yaddo; enrolls at Harvard for a phil PhD but withdraws after suicidal thoughts
• sep 1989: enters AA
• oct 1990: Signifying Rappers is published with Mark Costello; teaching at Emerson College
• 1991: starts working on IJ
• 1992: moves to Syracuse, starts writing to Don DeLillo
• 1993: hired by ISU as assoc prof; finishes first draft of IJ
• jan 1996: Cruise ship essay published
• feb 1996: IJ published
• fall 1996: starts TPK research: audits elementary accounting class
• feb 1997: Supposedly is published
• may 1999: Brief Interviews is published
• jul 2002: becomes Roy E. Disney Professor of Creative Writing at Pomona College
• oct 2003: Everything and More published
• jun 2004: Oblivion published
• dec 2004: marries Karen Green
• may 2005: this is water commencement speech at Kenyon College
• dec 2005: Consider the Lobster
• sep 12 2008: commits suicide
• dec 2010: Fate, Time and Language published
• 2011: TPK published

David Foster Wallace: A Profile

William R. Katovsky / 1987 (missing author)

profiling DFW as he teaches English 210 (Introduction to Writing Fiction) at the University of Arizona, soon after Broom was published. DFW gives a very condensed, edited version of his life story

A Whiz Kid and His Wacky First Novel

Helen Dudar / 1987 (missing author)

a profile on DFW and Broom, right before he goes off to Yaddo

Looking for a Garde of Which to Be Avant: An Interview with David Foster Wallace

Hugh Kennedy and Geoffrey Polk / 1993 (missing author)

after Broom and GCH are published. really good and in-depth. the interviewers ask him about Broom, what he thinks about MFA programs, GCH's intergenerational issues, fiction being life-affirming, his favourite contemporary authors.

An Expanded Interview with David Foster Wallace

Larry McCaffery / 1993 (missing author)

from The Review of Contemporary Fiction, summer 1993; preceding his E Unibus Pluram essay. they talk about: the essay and its themes; Westward; the meaning of fiction and the problem with writers like Bret Easton Ellis; the difficulty of art within late capitalism; the "click" and how he got it from Barthelme's "The Balloon"; his philosophy/math background; thoughts on postmodernism and metafiction; Wittgenstein; Signifying Rap; "we're going to have to be the parents" (p52). so many great quotes

The Next Big Thing: Can a Downstate Author Withstand the Sensation over His 1,079-Page Novel?

Mark Caro / 1996 (missing author)

from Chicago Tribune, feb 1996, soon after IJ was published. summarizes all the positive press. profile of DFW and how he came to write IJ as well as how he's reacting to all the positive press, which some original DFW quotes scattered throughout.

The Salon Interview: David Foster Wallace

Laura Miller / 1996 by Laura Miller

from Salon, march 8 1996. soon after IJ. introductory paragraph then really good Q&A style interview on how he came to write IJ, what it's like to write today, his personal writing influences; what it's like to teach at ISU.

The Wasted Land

David Streitfeld / 1996 (missing author)

from Details, March 1996; about IJ and how DFW has just bought a house in Normal, Illinois. very little original DFW material, but he does mention that he was brought up an atheist and is half-heartedly trying to become a Catholic

David Foster Wallace Winces at the Suggestion That His Book Is Sloppy in Any Sense

Anne Marie Donahue / 1996 (missing author)

from Boston Phoenix, march 1996; interview & profile during his IJ promotional tour. a bit on his relationship with the reader, but nothing that hasn't been covered more extensively elsewhere

Young Writers and the TV Reality

Donn Fry / 1997 (missing author)

from _Seattle Times, march 1997. right after Supposedly was published. on today's fiction writers being raised in an environment that worshipped television, and how it's hard to teach his even younger students at ISU. says he gave up his TV five years ago. short but not devoid of interest

The “Infinite Story” Cult Hero behind the 1,079-Page Novel Rides the Hype He Skewered

Matthew Gilbert / 1997 (missing author)

from Boston Globe. on IJ and Supposedly. some edited quotes, on drugs, his suicide attempt, religion, AA, irony, not being nominated for the 1996 National Book Awards

David Foster Wallace

Tom Scocca / 1998 (missing author)

from Boston Phoenix, feb 23 1998. Q&A phone interview in advance of his Boston tour for Supposedly. on fiction vs non-fiction, and how he sometimes screws up by being too tell-all in his nonfiction, and footnotes, and the pendulum of fame, and the nonfiction writers who've inspired him (Joan Didion, Pauline Kael, John McPhee, Frank Conroy's Stop Time, Tobias Wolff's This Boy's Life, Hardy, Annie Dilliard), and using typewriters

David Foster Wallace: In the Company of Creeps

Lorin Stein / 1999 (missing author)

from Publishers Weekly, may 3 1999. after Brief Interviews was published. quotes interspersed with quotes, mostly about his publishers and agents (agent Bonnie Nadell; editor Gerry Howard at Viking; editor Michael Pietsch at Little, Brown, who worked on IJ and BI)

David Foster Wallace Warms Up

Patrick Arden / 1999 (missing author)

from Book, July-August 1999. on BI, quotes interpersed with adventures at a Cracker Barrel in Bloomington. about teaching being good for his work (so he talks to people) and postmodern America's lack of spirituality

Mischief: A Brief Interview with David Foster Wallace

Chris Wright / 1999 (missing author)

from Boston Phoenix, june 1999. on BI, in Q&A format. really nothing here. the Q's are edited out. more of a gag interview than anything else

Behind the Watchful Eyes of Author David Foster Wallace

Mark Shechner / 2000 (missing author)

from Buffalo News, sept 10 2000. Describes DFW as the best young writer in America then moves into Q&A (by phone). on BI, IJ, who he reads for pleasure these days (DeLillo, Ozick, McCarthy, George Saunders, Richard Powers, Joanna Scott, Denis Johnson's poetry, Vollmann's Rainbow Stories). nothing too deep

Conversation with David Foster Wallace and Richard Powers

John O’Brien / 2000 (missing author)

just the dialogue, with O'Brien moderating. Richard Powers is another novelist. talking about their relationships with their readers and reviewers, and about the pleasure of writing

Approaching Infinity

Caleb Crain / 2003 (missing author)

from Boston Globe, oct 26. on Everything and More. some Q&A: mentions his review of two math books (section 447); talks a bit about the book; IJ; his teaching at Pomona; how he just delivered a draft of Oblivion (unnamed)

To the Best of Our Knowledge: Interview with David Foster Wallace

Steve Paulson / 2004 (missing author)

Q&A on Oblivion. they talk about Smithy and the boredom of adult life; the cultural landscape he feels compelled to write about; Suffering Channel and if that aligns with his prediction for the future; a quote from Zadie Smith on fiction telling us how the world works. the boredom part was the most interesting

The Connection: David Foster Wallace

Michael Goldfarb / 2004 (missing author)

Q&A (radio I think--NPR?) on Oblivion, mostly Mister Squishy. about advertising, the media, etc. some reader questions and a brief discussion on philosophy and maturing as a writer (from the sarcasm to Supposedly to something more generous)

Interview with David Foster Wallace

Didier Jacob / 2005 (missing author)

Q&A on American culture and how he grew to love literature; how he got into serious nonfiction mostly for financial reasons; other writers whose spiritual qualities he admires (McCarty's ability to use ornate prose, lucidity of DeLillo and Ozick, passion of St. Paul and Rousseau and Dostoyevsky and Camus)

Just Asking . . . David Foster Wallace

Christopher John Farley / 2008 (missing author)

from Wall Street Journal, may 31 2008. Q&A on the Rolling Stone essay which was also published as a standalone book (McCain's Promise); asked about similarities between Obama and McCain (former is more of an orator, and more populist); he uses some choice words to describe the Bush administration here

The Lost Years and Last Days of David Foster Wallace

David Lipsky / 2008 by David Lipsky

Rolling Stone, oct 30 2008. a touching eulogy and biography that doesn't exclude any of the darker parts or his relationships (with Franzen, Bonnie Nadell, Karen Green). how he would sometimes call his mother to resolve grammar disputes with his students