"WALLACE'S ACHIEVEMENT WAS TO MAKE THINKING ABOUT THE FACTS OF POSTMODERN LIFE… ONE OF THE KEENEST PLEASURES OF BEING ALIVE"

WALLACE, David Foster. Infinite Jest. Boston: Little, Brown, (1996). Thick octavo, original blue paper boards, original dust jacket. $4000.

First edition of Wallace's epic postmodern satire—"jubilantly anecdotal, winkingly sardonic" (New York Times)—inscribed on the title page by him with his printed name crossed over: "For ASA w/ BEST WISHES David Foster Wallace," with an original sketch of a smiling face, in scarce first-issue dust jacket.

The "buzzing, claustrophobic energy" of Wallace's "mammoth 1079-page satire of America" immediately placed him in the company of Pynchon and DeLillo (Wall Street Journal). Here, as in all his work, "Wallace's achievement was to make thinking about the effects of postmodern life, and thinking about thinking about them, one of the keenest pleasures of being alive" (Slate). One year after publication of this acclaimed novel, a work hailed as "jubilantly anecdotal, windingly sardonic and self-consciously literary… Wallace received a MacArthur Foundation grant, the so-called genius award" (New York Times). He died tragically in 2008 at age 46. First-issue dust jacket, with uncorrected "Vollman" on rear panel.

Book with slight soiling to text block edge; dust jacket with one short closed tear, a bit of faint soiling to rear panel. A near-fine copy.