It has been a little over a year since David Foster Wallace tragically took his own life. Wallace was a brilliant writer and important voice in American life. I think we are still feeling his loss. However, we still have some final writing of his to look forward to, particularly the novel he was working on before he died titled The Pale King (2011, Little Brown).

Here are some recent David Foster Wallace developments to tide you over till then:

1) “All That” was published in last week’s New Yorker. The story is an excerpt from The Pale King.

2) Amy McDaniel, a former student of Wallace’s, posted a grammar challenge at htmlgiant that Wallace had used in class. You can read the answers here.

I really enjoyed his explanation of how to use “only” in a sentence:

You have been entrusted to feed for your neighbor’s dog for a week while he (the neighbor) is out of town. The neighbor returns home; something has gone awry; you are questioned.

“I fed the dog.”

“Did you feed the parakeet?”

“I fed only the dog.”

“Did anyone else feed the dog?”

“Only I fed the dog.”

“Did you fondle/molest the dog?”

“I only fed the dog!” [Here Wallace's voice cracked funnily.]

3) Speaking of grammar, here is a recently surfaced video of Wallace drinking from an empty glass and answering questions about grammar:

(hat tip to GQ)

4) Last grammar thing: You can read Wallace’s great essay on the usage wars that appeared in Harper’s online at Tense Present: Democracy, English, and the Wars over Usage.

5) In German David Foster Wallace News, the German translation of Infinite Jest has sold 50,000 copies in only a handful of months. The translation took six years to finish. Not surprising given the book is 1,522 pages.

6) Lastly, GQ has a short but good interview with Deborah Treisman (of the New Yorker) about editing Wallace.

For a long time, [Wallace] communicated exclusively by answering machine. I would leave him a message at some point during the day—he didn’t answer the phone—and then, late at night, when I was no longer at my desk, he would leave a very long response on my voicemail.