{"product_id":"infinite-jest-30th-anniversary-edition-9780316602921","title":"Infinite Jest (30th Anniversary Edition)","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe \"grandly ambitious, wickedly comic\" modern classic about the pursuit of happiness in America, now in a new 30th anniversary edition (Seattle Times).\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Set in an addicts' halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwed-up family to come along in recent fiction, \u003ci\u003eInfinite Jest\u003c\/i\u003e explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives; about how our desire for entertainment affects our need to connect with other people; and about what the pleasures we choose say about who we are. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, \u003ci\u003eInfinite Jest\u003c\/i\u003e bends every rule of fiction without sacrificing for a moment its own entertainment value. It is an exuberant, uniquely American exploration of the passions that make us human -- and one of those rare books that renew the idea of what a novel can do. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"The next step in fiction...Edgy, accurate, and darkly witty...Think Beckett, think Pynchon, think Gaddis. Think.\" \u003c\/b\u003e--\u003cb\u003eSven Birkerts, \u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDavid Foster Wallace was born in Ithaca, New York, in 1962 and raised in Illinois, where he was a regionally ranked junior tennis player. He received bachelor of arts degrees in philosophy and English from Amherst College and wrote what would become his first novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Broom of the System\u003c\/i\u003e, as his senior English thesis. He received a masters of fine arts from University of Arizona in 1987 and briefly pursued graduate work in philosophy at Harvard University. His second novel, \u003ci\u003e Infinite Jest\u003c\/i\u003e, was published in 1996. Wallace taught creative writing at Emerson College, Illinois State University, and Pomona College, and published the story collections \u003ci\u003eGirl with Curious Hair\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBrief Interviews with Hideous Men\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eOblivion, \u003c\/i\u003ethe essay collections \u003ci\u003eA Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eConsider the Lobster\u003c\/i\u003e. He was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship, a Lannan Literary Award, and a Whiting Writers' Award, and was appointed to the Usage Panel for The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. He died in 2008. His last novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Pale King\u003c\/i\u003e, was published in 2011.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Back Bay Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51986430624018,"sku":"9780316602921","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_192572bf-9af8-4683-94e3-a18616681eda.jpg?v=1769592219","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/infinite-jest-30th-anniversary-edition-9780316602921","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}