Teaching materials from the David Foster Wallace archive
A small but significant portion of the David Foster Wallace archive represents his teaching career, from his graduate school years through to his work as a faculty member at Pomona College in the years before his death. Wallace not only had high expectations for his students, but took his own role as a teacher very seriously. Syllabi, paper topic handouts, quizzes, vocabulary lists, heavily annotated teaching texts, and other documents dating from the late 1980s to 2008 are represented in the collection. Shown here are assignments and books representing various periods in his teaching career.
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View syllabus and paper guidelines for David Foster Wallace's class "English 102-Literary Analysis: Prose Fiction Fall '94"
View annotated books that Wallace used in his class "English 102-Literary Analysis: Prose Fiction Fall '94"
View document for Wallace's class entitled "English 183A Your Liberal-Arts $ at Work"
Syllabus for David Foster Wallace's class "English 102-Literary Analysis: Prose Fiction Fall '94"
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Document for David Foster Wallace's class entitled "Papers for 102: Rules, Guidelines, and Topics"
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Carrie by Stephen King
Cover from David Foster Wallace's teaching copy of Stephen King's Carrie. Harry Ransom Center.
Inside cover from David Foster Wallace's teaching copy of Stephen King's Carrie. Harry Ransom Center.
Annotated pages from David Foster Wallace's teaching copy of Stephen King's Carrie. Harry Ransom Center.
Annotated pages from David Foster Wallace's teaching copy of Stephen King's Carrie. Harry Ransom Center.
The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
Cover from David Foster Wallace's teaching copy of Thomas Harris's The Silence of the Lambs. Harry Ransom Center.
Inside cover from David Foster Wallace's teaching copy of Thomas Harris's The Silence of the Lambs. Harry Ransom Center.
Annotated pages from David Foster Wallace's teaching copy of Thomas Harris's The Silence of the Lambs. Harry Ransom Center.
Annotated pages from David Foster Wallace's teaching copy of Thomas Harris's The Silence of the Lambs. Harry Ransom Center.
Annotated pages from David Foster Wallace's teaching copy of Thomas Harris's The Silence of the Lambs. Harry Ransom Center.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
Cover from David Foster Wallace's teaching copy of C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Harry Ransom Center.
Annotated pages from David Foster Wallace's teaching copy of C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Harry Ransom Center.
Annotated pages from David Foster Wallace's teaching copy of C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Harry Ransom Center.
The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy
Cover from David Foster Wallace's teaching copy of James Ellroy's The Big Nowhere. Harry Ransom Center.
Annotated pages from David Foster Wallace's teaching copy of James Ellroy's The Big Nowhere. Harry Ransom Center.
Annotated pages from David Foster Wallace's teaching copy of James Ellroy's The Big Nowhere. Harry Ransom Center.
Document for David Foster Wallace's class entitled "English 183A Your Liberal-Arts $ at Work" in which he points out common grammatical errors
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View books in David Foster Wallace's library
Please be aware that 11 books in the collection have been restricted from access at the request of the estate.
Read about the acquisition of the David Foster Wallace archive
See the inside of some of Wallace's books
From A to Z: Circled words in Wallace's dictionary
Bonnie Nadell, Wallace's literary agent, shares what she believes the archive will reveal
Infinite Possibilities: A first glimpse into David Foster Wallace's library
Journey of an Archive: How the Wallace archive came to the Ransom Center
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