Fifteen years ago, David Foster Wallace died at a tragically young age. He was among the most

brilliant writers of his generation, and his work inspired an entire field of David Foster Wallace studies.

But in the wake of the Me Too era, his reputation has been called into question.

So how do we read him today?

I'm Anne Strange Champson.

In this episode of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll revisit David Foster Wallace, his life,

his work, his influence, and from our archives, his own words.

Everything is parodied and everything is ridiculous.

For my part, I can be steeped in about an hour of it,

and then I sort of have to walk away and look at a flower.

Join us.

Wisconsin Public Radio It's to the best of our knowledge from PRX.

I'm Anne Strange Champs.

How do you deal with a literary icon?

Someone like David Foster Wallace.

My first encounter with Wallace's work was in college.

This is Colleen Lehi.

Yeah. This is Colleen Lehi. I've signed up for a class that had Infinite Jest on the syllabus.

All I knew about Infinite Jest was that it's like,

oh, it's like this huge book and it's genius.

And like, if you want to be a well-read person, you read this book.

And I was like, okay, I want to be a well-read person, you read this book. And I was like, okay, I want to be a well-read person.

...