David Foster Wallace and "The Long Thing": New Essays on the Novels

by Marshall Boswell (Editor)

Of the twelve books David Foster Wallace published both during his lifetime and posthumously, only three were novels. Nevertheless, Wallace always thought of himself primarily as a novelist. From his college years at Amherst, when he wrote his first novel as part of a creative honors thesis, to his final days, Wallace was buried in a novel project, which he often referred to as "the Long Thing." Meanwhile, the short stories and journalistic assignments he worked on during those years he characterized as "playing hooky from a certain Larger Thing." Wallace was also a specific kind of novelist, devoted to producing a specific kind of novel, namely the omnivorous, culture-consuming "encyclopedic" novel, as described in 1976 by Edward Mendelson in a ground-breaking essay on Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow .

David Foster Wallace and "The Long Thing" is a state-of-the art guide through Wallace's three major works, including the generation-defining Infinite Jest. These essays provide fresh new readings of each of Wallace's novels as well as thematic essays that trace out patterns and connections across the three works. Most importantly, the collection includes six chapters on Wallace's unfinished novel, The Pale King , which will prove to be foundational for future scholars of this important text.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Marshall Boswell is the T. K. Young Professor of English at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, where he has taught since 1996. A scholar of contemporary American literature and a fiction writer, he is the author of Trouble with Girls, a short story collection, and the novel Alternative Atlanta. His scholarly work includes Understanding David Foster Wallace and John Updike’s Rabbit Tetralogy, as well as The Wallace Effect. His fiction has appeared in Playboy, Shenandoah, The Missouri Review, and New Stories from the South. Boswell has received the Clarence Day Awards for both teaching and research at Rhodes. He earned degrees from Washington & Lee, Washington University in St. Louis, and Emory University, and has taught at several institutions including the University of Miami. He also served as editor and contributor to the final volume of the Encyclopedia of American Literature. A musician in his spare time, Boswell once opened for Uncle Tupelo and Alex Chilton.

Reviews

[Wendy Liu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Look, it's simple. If you love David Foster Wallace, you won't regret reading this book. These essays are literary criticism at its finest. Even if you haven't read all (or any) of the three novels the essays focus on (The Pale King, The Broom of the System, and Infinite Jest), you'll get something out of this book; I've only read The Pale King (which is incredible, incidentally) and still enjoyed the essays focused on the other novels.

Don't miss out on this one.

[Alex Large · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some absolutely amazing essays and some I didn't like quite as much, but still a really great collection. A must read if you're a DFW fan. Has given me a lot to think about and more books to read/authors & philosophers to explore (especially Kierkegaard!)