The first of a series of articles (more appearing this week) about the David Foster Wallace archive at the Harry Ransom Centre appeared over at Culturemap Austin earlier today, Samantha Pitchel's The Guy with Curious Prose: David Foster Wallace and the Harry Ransom Center:
As droves of researchers from across the globe line up to pore through materials in the Center’s scholarly archives, one thing is clear: the 2010 purchase of writer David Foster Wallace’s library has earned the HRC an unpredictably massive amount of publicity.
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As a writer, the MacArthur Award-winning Wallace capitivated readers with his conversational narrative style and his penchant for footnotes (Jest clocks in at a staggering 1,079 pages, which includes 388 annotations). As a person, he continues to attract rock star-caliber attention from fans who feel a close connection to the author, whose works often examine the complexity of depression and the philosophy behind self-satisfaction. This means that the HRC has seen increased interest from both scholarly researchers and literary tourists, Wallace fans desperate to catch glimpses of The Real Dave in his personal papers. “The popularity of the collection has certainly raised our profile,” says the Center’s Cline Curator of Literature, Molly Schwartzburg. “I think more people know about the Ransom Center than would have otherwise, which is wonderful.”
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