| Until now, I’ve observed David Foster Wallace’s work with a wary eye: Girls with Curious Hair was bafflingly pretentious, and I’ve never attempted Infinite Jest – hundreds upon hundreds of pages of intellectual disembowelment is not something I find amusing.
So, consider me pleasantly surprised with Consider the Lobster and Other Essays (Little, Brown, 484 pp.), a new collection of pieces ranging from the hilarious to the profound, and often both. The first and best has him on assignment for Premier magazine, detailing the Adult Video News awards in Las Vegas. His eye for peculiar detail transforms the reportage into a sociological tract, non-judgmental and lucid. The few pages he writes on Kafka are heartbreaking. Likewise the title piece, which takes place at the Maine Lobster Festival, where Wallace can’t help but wonder if the shrill crustacean cries we associate with butter and claw crackers don’t hint at something deeper and darker.
And footnotes! Wallace is in love with them, something that might drive the casual reader to distraction, but that allow him to comment on his thoughts after the fact. Like a story within a story, he takes the historian’s tool and offers facts, hearsay and other tidbits.
There are countless bizarre stories hidden around the globe. Unfortunately, the banalities of bubblegum celebrities and plastic junk are quicker to funnel into the public consciousness, halting the publication of grand dime-store tales like the ones Wallace has discovered here. More than a great read, it should inspire you to seek out a few of your own.
Onto some readings this week: the Word Silo reading series starts on Saturday, March 4 at 2 p.m. at the Memorial Park Library with Dr. Mary Polito and Literary CSI: The University of Calgary’s Shakespearean-eve Mystery Manuscript Play. The next discussion is on Wednesday, March 8 at 7 p.m., with Kirsten Pullen leading Famous for Being Famous: Women Celebrities from Zsa Zsa Gabor to Paris Hilton.
Pages in Kensington has a few events this week, the first on Thursday, March 2, with the Magalomania Launch Party for nine Alberta arts magazines (Alberta Views, Beyond, dandelion, Expression, filling Station, FreeFall, Galleries West, Legacy and Prairie Journal), featuring readings from Sandra Vida and Christian Bok. On Monday, March 6, R. Scott Bakker reads from his last instalment in the "Prince of Nothing" series, The Thousandfold Thought. On Tuesday, March 9, Jeananne Kathol Kirwin reads from her new book, Greetings from Cool Breezes. All events start at 7:30 p.m.
Finally, on Saturday, March 4 at 8 p.m., Single Onion hosts an evening of readings at the Crump Manor (1046-18 Ave. S.E.), featuring T. Crane, Tippy A. Gogo, Fred Holliss, Kirk Miles, Sheri-D Wilson and MC X. Pandora. |
Copyright ©2006 FFWD. All rights reserved.