D. T. Max, a graduate of Harvard University, is a staff writer for The New Yorker. He is the author of The Family That Couldn't Sleep: A Medical Mystery. He lives outside of New York City.
Praise for Every Love Story Is A Ghost Story "In his revealing new
biography, D.T. Max gives us a sympathetic portrayal of Wallace's
life and work, tracing the connections between the two, while
mapping the wellsprings of his philosophical vision...what Mr.
Max's book does do -- and does powerfully - is provide an
emotionally detailed portrait of the artist as a young man."
-Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times "All readers, even those who
know nothing of Wallace, will be moved by the portrayal of one
man's honest struggle with mental illness...the portrayal of the
latter half of his life is deeply sympathetic and surprisingly
inspiring...[the book's] poignancy is in its emphasis on Wallace's
years of hard-earned survival and his efforts, though unrealized,
toward artistic transformation." -Sam Sacks, The Wall Street
Journal "A well-crafted, insightful chronicle of this singular
writer's life and literary work...Max's biography succeeds on
multiple levels: through his astute interpretations of Wallace's
literary output and liberal quotes from the writer himself, this
book very much embodies the spirit and life of Wallace...for this
reader, the biography provides a measure of solace - that is this
great writer can't be among us, at least he can be remembered in
all of his genius and complexity." -S. Kirk Walsh, The San
Francisco Chronicle "I'm having trouble remembering when I was last
so consumed by any piece of writing, fiction or non... In providing
a more complete sense of Wallace than we ever had while he lived,
it makes his death feel more real, somehow more irrefutable. And,
for anyone who felt a profound emotional connection to Wallace and
his work, there's a strenuously cathartic dimension to this: the
experience of knowing him more fully, and of thereby feeling more
completely the force and finality of his absence." -Mark O'Connell,
Slate.com "Documenting the life of a writer as revered and
tormented as the late David Foster Wallace is a fraught task at
best. D.T. Max has done an admirable job with Every Love Story is a
Ghost Story...what emerges is a vivid portrait of an artist whose
verbal brilliance was continually hampered, and ultimately
silenced, by debilitating mental illness." -Steve Almond, The
Boston Globe "While Max appears to greatly admire Wallace as a
writer and feel compassion for him as a man, he is never
starry-eyed, or pulls his punches. Every Love Story is a Ghost
Story is as illuminating, multifaceted, and serious an estimation
of David Foster Wallace's life and work as we can hope to find."
-Elissa Schappell, Vanityfair.com "Brilliant and compulsively
readable... a convincingly intimate and lucid narrative...Max's new
biography deftly reassembles the life of David Foster
Wallace...strips away the legend and gives us an all-too-human
writer." -Taylor Antrim, Vogue.com "Full of all kinds of strange
surprises, painting the most complete, and warmest, portrait of
Wallace yet." -Rolling Stone "Wallace's first biographer, the lucid
and energetic D.T. Max, restores the man to his own story. Every
Love Story is a Ghost Story takes a balanced and unfussy approach,
avoiding hagiography and dealing directly with both the gifts and
flaws of a mammoth talent...Max makes us wish Wallace were alive to
continue the conversation." -Gemma Sieff, Town and Country "All
dedicated readers of contemporary American literature will know the
tragic, haunting and ultimately unfathomable story of David Foster
Wallace, the prodigiously gifted writer - no, genius - who reshaped
the contours of both the novel and long-form nonfiction in his
far-too-brief life. D. T. Max has now provided answers to the
questions that can be answered and asked, with tact and grace, the
ones that can't. His biography is a model of deep scholarly
excavation and acute sensitivity, an exemplary feat of literary
portraiture." --James Atlas, author of Bellow: A Biography "This
book is vey well-researched, deeply sympathetic, and incredibly
painful to read. We should feel grateful that this story was told
by someone as talented and responsible as D.T. Max." --Dave Eggers,
author of A Hologram for the King "This book should be handed to
anyone who wants to write, if only to remind the aspiring writer
that becoming a voice of generational significance turns out to be
very poor insulation indeed from struggle, fear, and despair. D. T.
Max is beautifully attuned to Wallace's strengths, whether personal
or literary, and bracingly clear-sighted on his flaws. The result
is a book that's moving, surprising (Wallace voted for Reagan?),
and hugely disquieting. If you love Wallace's work, you obviously
need to read this book; if you don't love Wallace's work, you
especially need to read this book." --Tom Bissell, author of The
Father of All Things "A damnably readable, streamlined, yet deeply
researched work. Skipping the ancestors and aftermath of
conventional biography, Max gives us the man, his work, and his
times--the niceties of which (so complicated, so exquisitely
intertwined) Max articulates with, well, Wallace-like lucidity and
wit. Above all this is the story of a touching young man who
insisted on being something better than simply the smartest person
in the room." --Blake Bailey, author of Cheever: A Life "I'd
worried that by making David Foster Wallace less mythic, D. T. Max
would make him smaller. But the accretion of well-chosen details
makes Wallace greater: a complete human being, one whom these
superbly reported pages allow us to know rather than to worship.
And that makes his loss even more unbearable." --Anne Fadiman,
author of At Large and At Small
"This a book about being human, living human, writing human --
Wallace's own subjects -- and chronicles with real compassion the
complex, fierce joy Wallace took in being alive. A treat for
Wallace fans and anyone who cares about the prose of our time."
--Brenda Wineapple, author of White Heat "Building on his acclaimed
New Yorker profile, Max draws on his unparalleled access to
sources--from friends and family members to previously unpublished
notes and letters--and renders a life and literary portrait that
fans will devour and critics will find indispensable. Through the
grace of D. T. Max's clear prose readers will know Wallace and miss
him as never before." --Evan Wright, author of Generation Kill
"D.T. Max's biography is a touchingly sad story, well and honorably
told, and consistently full of the human warmth that David Foster
Wallace longed for, in his life and his work-- a longing he could
never quite satisfy in either." --Madison Smartt Bell, author of
The Color of Night
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