David Foster Wallace (1962–2008) was one of the most influential American writers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Known for his intellectually rigorous, often labyrinthine prose that fused philosophy, humor, and cultural critique, Wallace tackled themes like addiction, entertainment, isolation, and the human condition. His work bridged highbrow literature with pop culture, earning him a cult following and critical acclaim. Tragically, he died by suicide at 46, leaving behind unfinished projects and a profound legacy.

Early Life and Education

Born on February 21, 1962, in Ithaca, New York, Wallace grew up in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. His father, James D. Wallace, was a philosophy professor at the University of Illinois, and his mother, Sally Foster Wallace, taught English at a local community college. This academic environment shaped his precocious intellect. As a child, Wallace was a talented junior tennis player, an experience he later chronicled in essays about Midwestern sports culture.

Wallace attended Amherst College, where he majored in philosophy and English. His senior thesis on modal logic became his first novel, The Broom of the System (1987). He graduated summa cum laude in 1985, later earning an MFA from the University of Arizona. During this time, he battled depression and addiction, themes that permeated his writing.

Major Works

Wallace's bibliography spans novels, short stories, essays, and journalism. His style—marked by endnotes, digressive narratives, and a mix of irony and sincerity—challenged conventional storytelling.

• Infinite Jest (1996): Wallace's magnum opus, a 1,000+ page novel set in a near-future North America. It weaves addiction to a lethal film (the "Entertainment"), Quebec separatism, and a tennis academy into a satire of consumerism and escapism. The book's complexity and footnotes made it a modern classic, influencing authors like Zadie Smith and Jonathan Franzen.

• Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (1999): A collection of short stories and monologues exploring masculinity, sex, and vulnerability. Its raw, interrogative format exposes the absurdities of human communication.

• A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again (1997): Essays on topics from state fairs to David Lynch films. The title piece humorously dissects a luxury cruise, critiquing American excess.

• Consider the Lobster (2005): Nonfiction pieces, including a Maine Lobster Festival report that questions ethics in food consumption. Wallace's tennis journalism, like profiles of players, showcased his empathetic eye.

• This Is Water (2009): Based on his 2005 Kenyon College commencement address, this short work urges awareness of everyday "default" self-absorption. The quote from your query—"Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think"—highlights his focus on mindfulness amid modern banalities.

Later works include The Pale King (2011), an unfinished novel about IRS agents, published posthumously and Pulitzer-finalist nominated.

Themes and Style

Wallace dissected late-capitalism's loneliness, media saturation, and irony's pitfalls. He used footnotes as a structural device to mimic the mind's tangents, blending erudition with accessibility. Influenced by Thomas Pynchon and postmodernism, he rejected elitism, often embedding pop references (e.g., TV shows, math puzzles).

His nonfiction journalism—for Harper's, Esquire, and others—revealed a compassionate observer. Wallace's openness about his struggles with depression, managed via therapy and medication, humanized his intellectual output.

Personal Life and Legacy

Wallace taught creative writing at places like Emerson College and Illinois State University. In 2004, he married Karen Green, an artist. His battles with depression intensified in his final years; he died on September 12, 2008, in Claremont, California.

Posthumous releases like String Theory (tennis essays) and Fate, Time, and Language (philosophy thesis) cement his influence. Documentaries like The End of the Tour (2015, starring Jason Segel) and biographies such as D.T. Max's Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story (2012) keep his work alive. Wallace's call for empathy in a distracted world resonates today, especially in discussions of mental health and digital overload.