Consider the Lobster

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Consider the Lobster (2005) is a collection of essays by novelist David Foster Wallace. It is also the title of one of the essays, which was published in Gourmet Magazine in 2004. The entire list of essays is as follows:

"Big Red Son"

Wallace's account of his visit to the AVN Awards, an event that has been dubbed the Academy Awards of pornographic film, and its associated Expo. (originally published in Premiere as "Neither Adult Nor Entertainment" under the pseudonyms Willem R. deGroot and Matt Rundlet)

"Certainly the End of Something or Other, One Would Sort of Have to Think"

A review of John Updike's "Toward the End of Time" (originally published in the New York Observer)

"Some Remarks on Kafka's Funniness from Which Probably Not Enough Has Been Removed"

(originally published in Harper's)

"Authority and American Usage"

A review of Bryan A. Garner's "A Dictionary of Modern American Usage." Wallace applies George Orwell's Politics and the English Language to grammar and the conditions of class and power in millennial American communication. In addition to examining seemingly technical ideas such as descriptive linguistics versus prescriptive grammar, Wallace digresses to discuss the legitimacy of Ebonics as opposed to "white male" standard English. (originally published in Harper's as "Tense Present: Democracy, English and Wars over Usage")[1]

"The View from Mrs. Thompson's"

This presents Wallace's account of September 11th, 2001 as he experienced it in his hometown of Bloomington, Illinois, where he taught English at Illinois State University. To the surprise of many of his readers, Wallace refers to some of his neighbors as fellow church members.(Originally published in Rolling Stone)

"How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart"

(originally published in the Philadelphia Inquirer)

"Up, Simba"

Wallace writes about John McCain's 2000 Presidential campaign, famously called "The Straight Talk Express." The title is a comment from a television news camera man, who says "Up, Simba" before hoisting his camera onto his shoulder. (originally published in Rolling Stone and as an e-book through Random House's iPublish imprint.)

"Consider the Lobster"

Originally published in Gourmet, this review of the Maine Lobster Festival generated some controversy among the readers of the culinary magazine.[2] While Wallace has stated interviews his love for gourmet food,[3] the essay is concerned with the ethics of boiling a creature alive in order to enhance the pleasure for the consumer, including a discussion of lobster sensory neurons.

"Joseph Frank's Dostoevsky"

(originally published in the Village Voice Literary Supplement)

"Host"

A profile of John Ziegler, a Los Angeles-based conservative talk radio show host, who is obsessed with the O.J. Simpson murders. Wallace examines the impact of Clear Channel-type media monopolies and the proliferation of talk radio on the way Americans talk, think and vote. Instead of his trademark footnotes, the publication featured arrows that connected tangential ideas to each other on the page. (originally published in The Atlantic, which can be read online)

The collection was published on 13 December 2005.

[edit] Critical reception

The book received positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator Metacritic reported the book had an average score of 68 out of 100, based on 15 reviews.^[1]

[edit] References