This collection of essays by hot novelist Wallace (Infinite Jest,
1996, etc.) is sometimes tiresome but often truly rewarding.
Wallace is a fine prose stylist of the post-Beat school. His long
sentences overflow with prepositional phrases; commas are scarce.
At his best - which is to say, about half the time here - Wallace
writes with an intensity that transforms rambling reportage into a
sui generis mode of weird philosophizing. He makes deft use of
footnotes to pile up insights beneath the flow of his main line of
thought. Especially brilliant is the collection's opening essay, in
which Wallace looks back on his childhood experiences as a
midwestern junior tennis star through the lens of his collegiate
obsession with mathematics. The tennis world, treated at length in
Infinite Jest, resurfaces in a sensitive profile of rising American
player Michael Joyce. Otherwise, Wallace's best work comes in two
pieces that originally appeared in Harper's: a ferocious
investigative report on the culture of luxury cruises, and the
record of another carnival voyage, this one a trip to the Illinois
State Fair. A book review competently discusses
literary-theoretical debates over the death-of-the-author thesis.
Elsewhere in the volume, Wallace takes determined dives into
banality. A more judicious, albeit less focused, effort finds
Wallace on the set with filmmaker David Lynch, whom he presents as
a contemporary artistic hero. A sprawling meditation on televison
and contemporary fiction lays out many intriguing theories, but its
main point, that TV irony snares rather than liberates viewers,
doesn't make news. At his best, the exuberant Wallace amazes with
his "Taoistic ability to control via noncontrol." But - to continue
quoting from his opening tour-de-force, "Derivative Sport in
Tornado Alley" - eschewing discipline exacts a price: "Force
without law has no shape, only tendency and duration." (Kirkus
Reviews)
A collection of insightful and uproariously funny non-fiction by the bestselling author of INFINITE JEST - one of the most acclaimed and adventurous writers of our time. A SUPPOSEDLY FUN THING… brings together Wallace's musings on a wide range of topics, from his early days as a nationally ranked tennis player to his trip on a commercial cruiseliner. In each of these essays, Wallace's observations are as keen as they are funny.
Filled with hilarious details and invigorating analyses, these essays brilliantly expose the fault line in American culture - and once again reveal David Foster Wallace's extraordinary talent and gargantuan intellect.
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