A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments

David Foster Wallace

ISBN 10: 0316919896 / ISBN 13: 9780316919890

Published by Little, Brown and Company, 1997

About this Item

353 pp. Stated first edition, with full number line to "1," indicating first printing. Minor shelf and handling wear. Head and foot of spine and corners and edges of boards gently bumped/rubbed. Foxing to top of text block; small smudge-stain to fore-edge. Interior pages clean and unmarked. Light soiling, spine-fading, and mild wear to dust jacket (see photos); dust jacket is now enclosed in a (removable) protective mylar cover. Seller Inventory # ABE-1723613234204

Bibliographic Details

Title: A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: ...

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Publication Date: 1997

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

In this exuberantly praised book - a collection of seven pieces on subjects ranging from television to tennis, from the Illinois State Fair to the films of David Lynch, from postmodern literary theory to the supposed fun of traveling aboard a Caribbean luxury cruiseliner - David Foster Wallace brings to nonfiction the same curiosity, hilarity, and exhilarating verbal facility that has delighted readers of his fiction, including the bestselling Infinite Jest.

Review:

David Foster Wallace made quite a splash in 1996 with his massive novel, Infinite Jest. Now he's back with a collection of essays entitled A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again. In addition to a razor-sharp writing style, Wallace has a mercurial mind that lights on many subjects. His seven essays travel from a state fair in Illinois to a cruise ship in the Caribbean, explore how television affects literature and what makes film auteur David Lynch tick, and deconstruct deconstructionism and find the intersection between tornadoes and tennis.

These eclectic interests are enhanced by an eye (and nose) for detail: "I have seen sucrose beaches and water a very bright blue. I have seen an all-red leisure suit with flared lapels. I have smelled what suntan lotion smells like spread over 21,000 pounds of hot flesh . . ." It's evident that Wallace revels in both the life of the mind and the peculiarities of his fellows; in A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again he celebrates both.