Both Flesh and Not

Fifteen never-before-collected essays by "one of America's most daring and talented writers" all published in book form for the first time (Los Angeles Times Book Review).

Never has Wallace's seemingly endless curiosity been more evident than in this compilation of work spanning nearly 20 years of writing. Here, Wallace turns his critical eye with equal enthusiasm toward Roger Federer and Jorge Luis Borges; Terminator 2 and The Best of the Prose Poem; the nature of being a fiction writer and the quandary of defining the essay; the best underappreciated novels and the English language's most irksome misused words; and much more.

Both Flesh and Not restores Wallace's essays as originally written, and it includes a selection from his personal vocabulary list, an assembly of unusual words and definitions.


"Scarily astute . . . For Wallace devotees, these essays are required reading." —Booklist

"Displays the late author's vast intellectual curiosity. . . . showcase[s] Wallace's ever-evolving, intimate, and often humorous relationship with language." —The New Yorker

"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." —New York Times

"Every one of these pieces,,,hums with Wallace's contrary energy. . . . They show a mind at work, and it was one of the best this country has seen." —Boston Sunday Globe