David Foster Wallace

The sudden and very sad news of David Foster Wallace’s death is a tragic loss for admirers of his writing and for those who care about literature.

His piece “Host” was included in The Best American Magazine Writing 2006. The piece, originally written in The Atlantic Monthly, gives readers an every-angle view of conservative talk radio personality John Ziegler. who broadcasts a stream of humor-laced invective every weeknight. In this imaginative upending of the traditional magazine profile piece, Wallace explores Ziegler’s hectic, lonely world and the peculiar cultural moment that has turned one man’s cynicism and misery into radio magic.

“Host” displays not only Wallace’s extraordinary literary imagination but also his uncanny ability to capture the tone, tenor, and absurdity of contemporary America.