Consider the Philosopher

This is an article about David Foster Wallace whom I was not at all familiar or even aware of until his death this past September. However it was not until last week when I came across his commencement speech given at Kenyon in May 2005, that I realized this is someone I need to read. I'm currently his collection of essays entitled A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again. Wallace is brilliant in this book and reading the NY Times article above continues to demonstrate this brilliance. I have not yet read any of his fictional works but they are now on my list. It is Wallace's careful and thoughtful handling of language and demonstrating continued appreciation for its power without succumbing to love of language for its own sake.