A brilliant but troubled author, he is best known for Infinite Jest (1996) and other philosophically complex novels. He committed suicide at the age of forty-six.
His debut novel, The Broom of the System, which compared the U.S. to Disneyland, was published when he was just twenty-four years old.
His books are known for their long sentences with complex punctuation, and also for their exploration of the whole of human existence.
His father was on the faculty of the University of Illinois and his mother taught English at an Illinois community college.
A man of many interests, he wrote pieces about tennis star Roger Federer, as well as about Politician John McCain.
