The audio clip here is a portion of his well-known Kenyon College Commencement Speech.
He would have turned 50 today. Listen to him read more of his work at this website.
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I wanted to find some small way to pay tribute to David Foster Wallace, on the occasion of what would have been his 50th birthday, and this brief audio segment, in Wallace’s own voice, certainly fits the bill.
Wallace and his words - especially his later and more mature works (beginning with Infinite Jest) - have an awful lot more to tell us about what it truly means to be a human being, living and breathing in this modern moment, than most psychology books ever will. His was a rare and incredible gift and, sadly, one gone from us far too soon.
We hear what he’s saying all the time, it seems, yet hearing him say it felt like the first time.
