Author David Foster Wallace found dead at 46

PattyCake

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,422242,00.html


" David Foster Wallace, the author best known for his 1996 novel "Infinite Jest," was found dead in his home, according to police. He was 46.

Wallace's wife found her husband had hanged himself when she returned home about 9:30 p.m. Friday, said Jackie Morales, a records clerk with the Claremont Police Department."
 
I just read this and it is so sad. I do not know why so many creative people have such demons.

I read Infinite Jest once back when it was all the rage. What a terrific book.

May Wallace and those who love him rest in peace.
 
how sad.. I hope he has found the peace he was searching for.
 
How sad for his wife, that she had to find him like that....

RIP, DFW.
 
I just read this and it is so sad. I do not know why so many creative people have such demons...

It just seems to come with the territory. Inspiration and creativity carry with them the blessings of a kind of joy and euphoria in the act of creating. But for too many people, the price they pay for that joy is a corresponding depression.

Seems to hit writers the worst -- DFW, Hunter S. Thompson, Spalding Gray, Ernest Hemingway. Good lord, the list is long.
 
It just seems to come with the territory. Inspiration and creativity carry with them the blessings of a kind of joy and euphoria in the act of creating. But for too many people, the price they pay for that joy is a corresponding depression.

Seems to hit writers the worst -- DFW, Hunter S. Thompson, Spalding Gray, Ernest Hemingway. Good lord, the list is long.

Ditto-Great genius can sometimes indicate great madness-Jonathan Winters, Robin Williams, Jim Carey (IMO)-

I have a theory (as usual, lol)-I think that people with that kind of sensitivity to environment and people who record their observations of human behavior are hardwired in a way-kind of like a lightbulb that never goes off-imagine constantly being a receiver of data...am I making sense? I have known two people personally that fit this criteria-they had great big brains that were constantly on, thirsty for knowlege and experience. They would use alcohol when life was too overwhelming, and cocaine when life was moving too slowly...it creates this cycle where the ouput (writing, comedy, acting etc...) resonates with the audience more when the emotions expressed are bigger-but imagine how tired the body gets on that kind of treadmill.
 
Speaking as a layperson, I'd bet that "bipolar disorder" fits many of the cases mentioned here.
 

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