[Dr. Drib]

If you love postmodern literature, as I do, then you recognize the name David Foster Wallace.

His most important work was a huge novel, a smorgasbord of language and satire called Infinite Just. It is witty, funny, difficult, full of life.

He committed suicide Sept. 12, but I am only now learning about it. (In Peru, it's hard to keep up with the literature of my country.) Apparently (according to the news reports), he suffered from depression.

I was so taken by his work that I almost taught Infinite Jest at Miami University. My plan was to make this the only book they would read. However, upon careful consideration, I'm glad I didn't teach it to those first-year students, as this is a difficult and LONG novel, one not well-suited to the attention span of the average 18/19 year old student.

I remember the first time I hefted the tome that is Infinite Jest and then started to read it. I immediately fell in love with the language. For me, it was a book that arrived at the right time in my life, as did Johnny Got His Gun (Dalton Trumbo), Edwin Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943-1954 (Steven Millhauser), Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) Executioner's Song (Norman Mailer), and The Rosy Crucifixion Trilogy (Henry Miller).

I am saddened by the death of David Foster Wallace and will miss the genius evident in his best work.


Don