Both Flesh And Not

Book excerpt: Brilliant, dazzling, never-before-collected non-fiction, by the legendary David Foster Wallace Beloved for his wonderfully discerning eye, his verbal elasticity and his uniquely generous imagination, David Foster Wallace was heralded by critics and fans as the voice of a generation. Collected in Both Flesh and Not are fifteen essays published for the first time in book form. From 'Federer Both Flesh and Not', considered by many to be his nonfiction masterpiece; to 'The (As it Were) Seminal Importance of Terminator 2,' which deftly dissects James Cameron's blockbuster; to 'Fictional Futures and the Conspicuously Young', an examination of television's effect on a new generation of writers, David Foster Wallace's writing swoops from erudite literary discussion to open-hearted engagement with the most familiar of our twentieth-century cultural references. A celebration of David Foster Wallace's great loves – for language, for precision, for meaning - and a feast of enjoyment for his fans, Both Flesh and Not is a fitting tribute to this writer who was never concerned with anything less important than what it means to be alive. 'The prose isn't showing off; it effortlessly catches the fleeting thought. You have the illusion that you're being talked to, one on one, by an extraordinarily intelligent friend.' Weekend Australian 'In [Wallace's] ambitious attempt to realise the literary project sketched out in these early essays – to reconcile head and heart, to transcend the perceived limitations of his own time – he was to create the extraordinary body of work he has left us.' Saturday Age 'At their best these essays remind us of Wallace's arsenal of talents: his restless, heat-seeking reportorial eye; his ability to convey the physical or emotional truth of things with a couple of flicks of the wrist; his capacity to make leaps, from the mundane to the metaphysical, with breathtaking velocity and ardor.' Michiko Kakutani, New York Times