David foster wallaces surprising list of his 10 favorite books, from. This conversation is not about david foster wallace at all, of course. He also played tennis, participating in several tournaments across the state. The official david foster wallace website featuring a listing of his books along audio clips and information about his newest title, the pale king. This is water by david foster wallace read more the first thing wallace asked me that first day, when i showed up in his office angling for a. Lost last days of david foster wallace by david lipsky. Best known as the author of the audacious, shelfbending postmodern masterpiece infinite jest, novelist, essayist, and short story writer david foster wallace. A road trip with david foster wallace follow author david lipsky is a contributing editor at rolling stone magazine. David foster wallace biography facts, childhood, family. Its a little eerie how well he predicted our world today including the election of someone a lot like president trump.
Free shipping on many items browse your favorite brands affordable prices. The novel is widely noted for its unconventional narrative structure and its experimental use of endnotes there are a total of 388 endnotes, some with footnotes of their own. And he did it without ever reducing his characters to mouthpieces or his books to tracts. Now, when getting into book discussions with a certain kind of man, i often say i cant read as soon as possible. In david lipskys view, david foster wallace was the best young writer in america. Infinite jest, by david foster wallace culture vulture. Get cozy and expand your home library with a large online selection of books at. I just feel like hes first in line to see the david foster wallace movie. How had a teen tennis prodigy turned ace philosophy student turned novelist managed to become a generationdefining. If you have a david foster wallace obsession, add these 7. Wallace is widely known for his 1996 novel infinite jest, which time magazine cited as one of the 100 best englishlanguage novels from 1923 to 2005. Girl with curious hair, wallace, david foster,03933964, book, good. Wallace s pieces for harpers magazine in the 90s were, according to lipsky, like hearing for the first time the more.
The new kings of nonfiction by michael lewis, jack hitt, james mcmanus, lawrence weschler, michael pollan, bill buford, chuck klosterman, david foster wallace, dan savage and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Get the best deals on david foster wallace books when you shop the largest online selection at. One of david foster wallace s former students has posted the syllabus from the author s 2005 pomona college literary interpretation class. Get the best deals on books david foster wallace when you shop the largest online selection at. This was david foster wallace s first novel, written when he was 26. Like most of those david foster wallace fans, i felt more than a little surprised when i turned to his page and found out which ten books hed chosen. David foster wallace, my teacher books the guardian. How strange, then, that wallace, too, has become litbro shorthand. Books by david foster wallace authors like david foster. Vollmann good prose, hunger for information and ability to present complicated issues without cleaning them up too much. Then i showed up at pomona, prepared as anyone could be to become david foster wallaces protege.
If you have a david foster wallace obsession, add these 7 books. Here, as quoted in the christian science monitor, we have the infinite jest author and widely recognized if reluctant highbrow literary figures top ten list. Author of 12 books including although of course you end up becoming yourself. Not all men like the notoriously longwinded, cerebral writer. Ws m is a dramatic rendering of what it would be like to live in the sort of universe described by logical atomism.
Infinite jest is a 1996 novel by american writer david foster wallace. For this collection, david foster wallace immerses himself in the threering circus that is the presidential race in order to document one of the most vicious campaigns in recent history. Both flesh and not is david foster wallace s rummagingthroughthetrunkandohwhatatrunk essay collection, the third book of his published since his death. David foster wallace was a noted american author and university instructor. The socalled psychotically depressed person who tries to kill herself doesnt do so out of quote hopelessness or any abstract conviction that lifes assets and debits do not square. David foster wallace books list of books by author david. This is like reading the work of a adhd child who is extremely bored. A large part of that story is dominated by david foster wallace, the writer she met when she was 26 and he was 36. For many, he became someone worth reading, revering, following. It has been categorized as an encyclopedic novel and made time magazines list of the 100 best englishlanguage novels published between 1923 and 2005. He died young enough for his promise and his achievements to solidify into a legend. David foster wallace is to contemporary literature what kurt cobain is to music. Great deals on paperback david foster wallace books.
David foster wallace wrote the acclaimed novels infinite jest and the broom of the system and the story collections oblivion, brief interviews with hideous men, and girl with curious hair. By closely examining infinite jest, brief interviews with hideous men, and the pale king, jon baskin points readers to the work at the center of wallace s. Wallace, who died by suicide on september 12, 2008, ten years ago today, burst into fame in the late eighties with experimental metafictions that took. But at some point in his middle school, he started developing an. His 1996 novel, infinite jest, was biblesize and spawned books of interpretation and commentary, like understanding david foster wallace a book his friends might have tried to write and would. And surely not because death seems suddenly appealing. Like any good hipster, i try to jump off the bandwagon at every opportunity. David foster wallace 19622008 was an american author of novels, essays, and short stories, and a professor at illinois state university in normal, illinois, and pomona college in claremont, california.
David foster wallace answers these questions and more in his new book of hilarious nonfiction. But there are lots of authors that share some of his best traits. David foster wallace and the perils of litchat the new yorker. I knew the late david foster wallace a very little bitnot much to speak of, really. A novel, hardcover by wallace, david foster, like new used, f. In recent years, the american fiction writer david foster wallace has been treated as a symbol, as an icon, and even a film character.
Best known as the author of the audacious, shelfbending postmodern masterpiece infinite jest, novelist, essayist, and short story writer david foster wallace 19622008 was one of the most influential writers of the late 20th century. The writer david foster wallace 19622008 didnt really eat food. David foster wallaces surprising list of his 10 favorite. Find authors like david foster wallace from the worlds largest community of readers. Vollmann good prose, hunger for information and ability to present complicated issues without cleaning them up too m. David foster wallace books list of books by author david foster. Wallace was a cheerful and funny child and good student.
At the rereading david foster wallace panel during the 2012 new yorker festival, deborah treisman and mark costello answer an audience members question about wallace s death. Books similar to david foster wallaces infinite jest. David foster wallace quotes author of infinite jest. Like all great literature, his books do many things at once. Where do you begin with a writer as original and brilliant as david foster wallace. Men recommend david foster wallace to me electric literature. Rethinking david foster wallace to the best of our knowledge. Who are some authors similar to david foster wallace. His nonfiction includes the essay collections consider the lobster and a supposedly fun thing ill never do again, and the fulllength work everything and more. The most famous thing david foster wallace wrote is infinite jest, his huge, sprawling novel set in a dystopian near future.
From the eerily real, almost holographic evocations of historical figures like lyndon johnson and overtelevised gameshow. Andrea barrett, jonathan franzen, ian frazier, david foster wallace and others, contributors. This occurred to me last week, after listening to a friend discuss the foibles of a bookish male acquaintance with a manbun. David foster wallace smart, book, years dostoevsky wrote fiction about identity, moral value, death, will, sexual vs. Infinite jest, by david foster wallace novel, 1996 huge disjointed satire of the sickness and struggles in american culture, with a large cast of tennis players, cinephiles, addicts, misfiring families and psychopaths. When i met him, in 1996, when i was twentythree years old, i really couldnt cook, though it wouldnt have occurred to me to consider this something we had in common. David foster wallace february 21, 1962 september 12, 2008 was an american author of novels, short stories and essays, as well as a university professor of english and creative writing. His 1996 novel, infinite jest, was biblesize and spawned books of interpretation and commentary, like understanding david foster wallace a book his friends might have tried to. Ordinary unhappiness returns us to the reason we all know about him in the first place. Like most of those david foster wallace fans, i felt more than a little surprised when i turned to his page and found out which ten books hed. Paperback david foster wallace books for sale in stock. From the eerily real, almost holographic evocations of historical figures like lyndon johnson and overtelevised game show. David foster wallace on david lynch is pretty funny the novelist on admiring maggie nelson and rachel kushner, and being irritated by william faulkners. Goodreads members who like david foster wallace also like.
Reading infinite jest 20 years on books podcast twenty years after david foster wallace s magnum opus was first published it continues to. The david foster wallace reader david foster wallace on. Reading infinite jest 20 years on books podcast books. It is surreal, often achingly funny, and manages to incorporate devastating digs at a number of american shibboleths and institutions, especially the allamerican family. Marshall boswell examines the four major works of fiction david foster wallace has produced thus far.