David Foster Wallace's Sister Aims to Save Him From Myth

For many readers, Infinite Jest author David Foster Wallace exists as a literary icon: the brilliant, bandana-wearing genius whose work captured the anxieties of modern life. But he had a lesser known role as well, that of older brother—the kid who would wake his younger sister up to watch Saturday morning cartoons. (He identified as the Road Runner, and the two of them would make up their own dialogue during the shows.) At the Small Bow, Lindsey Adler profiles that little sister, Amy Wallace and her years-long effort to preserve a more complete portrait of her brother. "It's been nearly 20 years since his death by suicide, and while the legend of DFW the writer has grown, the story of the human has been flattened to the stereotype of a tortured artist who came to a tragic end," writes McBride.

Wallace recounts the anxious, shark-obsessed, often goofy older brother who once asked her permission to try writing fiction—and then beat her in Amherst's freshman writing prize. Years later, she proofed his drafts of Infinite Jest, but for reasons she is unsure of, her brother grew cold toward her afterward. She stopped reading his work after that, acknowledging her own jealousy but also "reeling from the pain of having been involved in the making of his masterpiece, only to be shoved aside at the very end." Wallace returned to his fiction after his death, and one especially moving moment comes when she reads David's short story "Good Old Neon" and concludes that her brother was writing about their relationship—and was reaching out to her. Read the full story.