DFW

The stories David Foster Wallace contributed to Harper’s are now available online. “The Depressed Person” (first published in 1998) is a powerful piece, now harrowing to reconsider. I’ll admit I couldn’t get through DFW’s Infinite Jest, but I’ve long admired his shorter prose for its mad genius energy and intelligence. Another must-read, especially for tennis lovers, is “Derivative Sport in Tornado Alley” (from A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again; an earlier version is available on the Harper’s site).