/lit/ - Literature

I pity this guy. Honestly. He's so detached from reality, and I mean that in the general sense - encompassing everything. He's lacking in spirit, passion, intelligence...

While Pynchon's social alienation was endearing and poignant, David Foster Wallace's was largely self imposed due to his aggressiveness and rambling. He's the literary equivalent to the conspiracy theorist, the jaded curmudegeon veteran with no hope for anything. And at times, he comes off like a child. Again, not in the charming scoundrel way, but rather like an insecure Ignatius J Reilly, on the verge of a temper tantrum. Early in Infinite Jest, he talks about how he'll write about the elderly stage of living once he reaches it. Fitting he dies of a suicide before the age of 50.

David Foster Wallace is the saddest example of hubris and delusional cynicism outside of fictional literature. Ayn Rand had a warmer soul.