Synopses & Reviews
Where
do you begin with a writer as original and brilliant as David Foster
Wallace? Here — with a carefully considered selection of his
extraordinary body of work, chosen by a range of great writers, critics,
and those who worked with him most closely. This volume presents his
most dazzling, funniest, and most heartbreaking work — essays like his
famous cruise-ship piece, "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again,"
excerpts from his novels The Broom of the System, Infinite Jest, and The Pale King, and legendary stories like "The Depressed Person."
Wallace's
explorations of morality, self-consciousness, addiction, sports, love,
and the many other subjects that occupied him are represented here in
both fiction and nonfiction. Collected for the first time are Wallace's
first published story, "The View from Planet Trillaphon as Seen In
Relation to the Bad Thing" and a selection of his work as a writing
instructor, including reading lists, grammar guides, and general
guidelines for his students.
A dozen writers and critics,
including Hari Kunzru, Anne Fadiman, and Nam Le, add afterwords to
favorite pieces, expanding our appreciation of the unique pleasures of
Wallace's writing. The result is an astonishing volume that shows the
breadth and range of "one of America's most daring and talented writers"
(Los Angeles Times Book Review) whose work was full of humor,
insight, and beauty.
About the Author
David Foster Wallace wrote the novels Infinite Jest, The Broom of the System, and The Pale King, and the story collections Oblivion, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, and Girl with Curious Hair. His nonfiction includes Consider the Lobster, A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, Everything and More, and This Is Water.
He died in 2008.