Readership for literature is dying. Statistics back the argument, and I’m not here to argue against it. What I think could possibly be the problem is that young people are failing to find writers that speak to them. But I’ve been a fan of one such writer that's spoken to me deeply and could possibly speak to many other millennials as well. The writer I’m talking about is the late David Foster Wallace.

In the history of Literature, it's easy to pinpoint writers that reflect a certain era. Examples of this are Mark Twain during the late 1800’s, F. Scott Fitzgerald during the Jazz Age, Jack Kerouac during the Beat Generation, and Thomas Pynchon during the counterculture of the late 1960’s and early 70’s. It could be possible that the reason it's hard for all of us to agree on one writer for our time is that there are actually a higher number of talented writers working the past few decades than ever before. Another reason is that our culture has become more fractured with the dawn of the internet, so it’s difficult for a writer to connect with a wide spanned readership. That could very well be true, but I still feel that there should be a writer that Millennials can unite under—someone we can look to for wisdom.

First off, the themes Wallace explores are subjects that Millennials find important, such as entertainment, drugs and addiction, the environment, solipsism, politics and government, loneliness and depression in everyday American life, and relationships. I’m sure many of you will find his work to be difficult, and let me assure you, it’s supposed to be. He believed modern entertainment was becoming too easily digestible, and that literature should be more demanding of it’s readers, as if it is exercising a part of our brains that other forms of modern entertainment are not engaging.

Here are some of his works that Millennials may find relevant to their lives right now:

Infinite Jest: This is considered his magnum opus. Cited by Time Magazine as one of the best english language novels since 1923. Millennials will find this novel relevant to them because it takes place in a world where entertainment and drugs have become so good, that people can’t escape them. The novel is long and tough to read, but the reward for getting through it could be unlike any other reading experience you’ve ever had.

Consider the Lobster: A book of essays that touch on many subjects such as the porn industry, September 11th, talk radio, and Fydor Dostoevsky. The two essays that Millennial’s may find most interesting at this time are the title essay and “Up, Simba” about John McCain’s 2000 presidential campaign. “Consider the Lobster” is about his visit to a Maine lobster festival and many will think the essay is solely about animal rights, but I find it to be about how much of our own thinking is dominated by what’s being marketed to us.

And for you recent graduates, Wallace’s commencement speech at Kenyon College is one of the best:

by Darin Milanesio

Image via Animal New York