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/lit/ - Literature

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4638112 No.4638112 [Reply] [Original]

opinions on David Foster Wallace? Been meaning to check out Infinite Jest but should I read his other books first? I want start with Broom of The System. Good choice or bad? Guide me /lit/.

>> No.4638113

just read Infinite Jest
its sort of obligatory

my opinion..well, i dont know, hes very entertaining

>> No.4638120

His early work is easily his worst, and he himself said as much. If you have to read him, you might as well just go with his extremely popular postmodern doorstopper.

>> No.4638123

Broom of the System stands by itself as a great read -- especially if you don't worry about all the references or concepts he sprinkles throughout -- and I could recommend it solely on those grounds. I haven't read IJ yet, but I'm looking forward to see how he matured/changed after writing Broom, and you might want to do the same.

If you really want to have an introduction to him, though, and don't want to go through an entire novel to do it, then you can just read some of the short-fiction he has laying around the internet. There's a lot of it and most of its pretty good.

>> No.4638126

I hadn't read anything else by him or anything else as long as Infinite Jest either but I loved it. Give it a go.

>> No.4638131

Oblivion, his short story collection, is better to start with than Infinite Jest, which is one of those books that sits on many bookshelves unread

The Pale King is also really good

>> No.4638203

>>4638112
His journalism and his short story collections are good.

>> No.4638232

>>4638112

Awful. Talentless, the man cannot think.

>> No.4638236

>>4638131
>Oblivion
>The Pale King
In terms of starter fiction, this is it right here. Oblivion in particular.
Starting with his nonfiction is a good choice too, either A Supposedly Fun Thing or Consider the Lobster. All of the above catch Wallace's voice and his spirit at their best.

>> No.4638272

>>4638131
>>4638236

I also want to throw out a recommendation for Oblivion. A few of the stories were 2deep4me but Mr. Squishee, Oblivion and especially Good Old Neon are fucking masterful.

>> No.4638856
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4638856

no

>> No.4638862
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4638862

discernable

>> No.4638867

Breaker

>> No.4638871
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4638871

talent

>> No.4638886
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4638886

>> No.4638893

>>4638120
you mean he had work that was worse than Infinite Jest? How the fuck can that be that book sucks ass.

>> No.4638899

I have a question about The Suffering Channel.
There's lots of references to something sinister being in the other half of the condo, and there's a thing about the company receiving the 'sculptures' sooner than it should have been possible.
Can someone explain these please?

>> No.4638903

he's an idiot with no discernible talent

>> No.4638909
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4638909

>>4638232
Wow. Okay. Having read Infinite Jest, I thought it was a book full of thoughts: Maybe not the most profound thoughts ever, but still!

Anyhow, I'm sure glad you set me straight on his anencephaly.

Ladies! Gentlemen! Gather around this one person's blunt and unelaborated opinion, and heed it well! David Foster Wallace is talentless and cannot think, because this person said so, without saying why!

>> No.4638914

>>4638893
> Didn't finish it
> Thinks writing one dismissive sentence is enough to dethrone a 1000+ page book

>> No.4638962

>>4638899
The "sculptures had been sent before the magazine had sent journalists to speak with the Moltkes; Amber did not need to be convinced. She, as a huge object of obese pulchritude, was some kind of representation of lowest-common-denominator entertainment, and she ended up exploiting (and in some cases literally subsuming) everyone else using her benign demeanour and her wiles.

>> No.4639030

Brief Interviews might not be as accomplished a text as Oblivion is, but it's more experimental and is thematically unified.