David Foster Wallace has a new short piece of fiction at the New Yorker titled “Good People” about a religious, unmarried young couple dealing with an unwanted pregnancy. This story has ignited some debate on the wallace-l mailing list:

• Did DFW write this with the expectation that the subject matter (sincere but doubtful religious feelings) would challenge typical New Yorker readers?
• Does the story represent a Classical Prisoner’s Dilemma?
• Would it be out of place in a traditional religious magazine?
• Is it a commentary on “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor?
• Are the two main characters “good people?” Or is just one of them “good people,” as in, “She’s good people” in the common vernacular?

Maybe this sounds like an English assignment to you, but I’m always interested in what Wallace is trying to do with his writing (see his Dostoevsky essay in Consider the Lobster), and hey, it’s only for extra credit.