the david foster wallace reader  where do you begin with a writer as original and brilliant as david foster wallace? here -- with a carefully considered selection of his extraordinary body of work, chosen by a range of great writers, critics, and those who worked with him most closely. this volume presents his most dazzling, funniest, and most heartbreaking work -- essays like his famous cruise-ship piece, "a supposedly fun thing i&apos;ll never do again," excerpts from his novels <i>the broom of the system</i>, <i>infinite jest</i>, and <i>the pale king</i>, and legendary stories like "the depressed person." <br /><br /> wallace&apos;s explorations of morality, self-consciousness, addiction, sports, love, and the many other subjects that occupied him are represented here in both fiction and nonfiction. collected for the first time are wallace&apos;s first published story, "the view from planet trillaphon as seen in relation to the bad thing" and a selection of his work as a writing instructor, including reading lists, grammar guides, and general guidelines for his students. <br /><br /> a dozen writers and critics, including hari kunzru, anne fadiman, and nam le, add afterwords to favorite pieces, expanding our appreciation of the unique pleasures of wallace&apos;s writing. the result is an astonishing volume that shows the breadth and range of "one of america&apos;s most daring and talented writers" (<i>los angeles times book review</i>) whose work was full of humor, insight, and beauty.