After
reading hundreds of different authors in my life (I'd love to have a
list of them all, in fact I often daydream about when I die there being
my very own nook in heaven filled with statistics on my life: top ten
dinners I ate, top ten bands I listened to, top ten happiest moments in
terms of how big my smile was etc) I've recently come across somebody
who writes in a way that I've never seen before, a way that I never
thought could possibly be entertaining, that shakes up everything I held
true about writing. David Foster Wallace wrote half the time as if he
was compiling a very sober textbook, and the other half as if he was
making more detailed and studious footnotes for that same book, but
somehow the end product is magnificent. In Oblivion, a collection of
short stories published shortly after his death, everyday concepts and
bizarre setups I never would have considered interesting enough to write
about entwine to form a compelling collection of stories, and page
after page words that I've never heard before, and am so sure I'll never
hear again I don't bother to look them up, slide seamlessly into his
elegant sentences and make perfect sense.
I
absolutely loved the book, and have since found out that many of the
stories within aren't even considered his best, so I'm looking forward
to discovering more. My favourite was Mr Squishy, a story about a focus
group for a new Twinkie-like cake, with a very sinister member among
them. Most of it entails ridiculously in-depth statistical analysis of
people's perception of cream and so on, but God, it's so interesting. I
don't think there can be a much better endorsement of how good Wallace
is than the fact that when you describe what you love about his work it
just sounds awful! If you haven't read him, track something down and be
amazed.
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