Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

by David Foster Wallace

Book Overview

In this thought-provoking and playful short story collection, David Foster Wallace nudges at the boundaries of fiction with inimitable wit and seductive intelligence. Wallace's stories present a world where the bizarre and the banal are interwoven and where hideous men appear in many guises. Among the stories are 'The Depressed Person, ' a dazzling and blackly humorous portrayal of a woman's mental state; 'Adult World, ' which reveals a woman's agonized...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316925195
• ISBN13: 9780316925198
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Back Bay Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Curious, Fresh and Wonderful

David Foster Wallace is every other writer's nightmare; not only is he depressingly young (34), superbly prolific (six books so far) and notably gifted (at least three major literary prizes to date), he's also good-looking and, so they say, charming. Now this Midwestern wunderkind has added to his ever-growing reputation by bringing out a short-story collection which, while it has its flaws (too intellectual in places, somewhat over-written in others), is still a few streets ahead of the competition in its versatility, panache and verbal ebullience. The varying length of the stories in Brief Interviews with Hideous Men indicate the range of Wallace's writing. Some, like the funny/dark "Death Is Not The End", about a gifted American writer (ha) lounging by his pool in suspended space-time, are no more than two pages long. Others are just paragraphs. By contrast, the title story is a 100-page-long suite of "conversations" with a series of repellent yet pitiable men given to lyrically reminiscing about "the sort of glorious girl whose kiss tastes of liquor when she's had no liquor to drink". The pay-off is that this girl might have been raped and murdered by one of the "hideous men" in question.Wallace's prose-style is as various as the length, tone and subject matter. Sometime he's like Will Self in his wordy self-confidence. Other times he's as coarsely comedic as Irvine Welsh ("the rawness and tenderness and spanked pink head of his thingie"). Still other times, like in the deft and amusing parody of dictionary-speak, Datum Centurio, the only possible comparison is with a talkative James Joyce after two bottles of champagne.

Best-pressed book.

This is my most-lent book.Nigh-schitzophrenic writing is generously tempered with a gourmet vocabulary, making the deep, jerky ride of his stories extremely readable. DFW presents the writing process as a very deconstructuralized thing with very experimental formats, providing a wholly multifaceted experience.Perhaps some of the criticisms he's received (An English prof I once knew said, 'He's just a blip on the timeline of literature: a passing phase..') gave rise to the themes of acknowledged pretentiousness in many of the stories. Hipsters and those fascinated by Americana culture alike will truly enjoy this, if only for the provocative nature of the writing styles, the stories in and of themselves, and themes.DO read this book. I can't stress it enough.

Here is something you will never read

D.F. Wallace's work, "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men", is as ever sound and full, pulsing through with the usual challenge of anything worthwhile. We talk of ourselves, hold D.F. Wallace's words, hard. Look, David puts out a book, and we get a voice because we took the time/spent $, to read it. We all get to self-absorb on screen (and that is the closest thing to being famous most of us will have), in true masturbatory style what we like/dislike about him/his work, in these reviews. He stopped reading us long ago. But we get to interact! We go on about IT, about LENGTH, PACE, HUMOR, whatever. What has Davids' work done for ME? How has Davids' book made MY Life better/worse? Where damnit, has David FAILED me? Where can i REJOICE? I'M disappointed in you DAVID, I LOVE you David, I ACCEPT you David. Therefore we accept ourselves, and he accepts us we think, so then we feel. We COMMUNICATE emotionally with him. We have INPUT! We exist in his life and in his work! But David please, a little more to the left, not that far, yes! slower, harder, that's more like it! The fact is by the time his book is in print and in our filthy hooks, David is gone gone gone. So we talk on and hear little. But it's all there in the text anyway. Read it.

Thank you Mr. Wallace!!

I don't generally read fiction. I prefer biographies, autobiographies, and occasionally I'll wade into philosophies...but I discovered Mr. Wallace when he wrote an hilarious article about the Illinois State Fair in Harper's Magazine..several years ago... This writer simply put is a genius...a modern day Marcel Proust...do not expect to travel traditional avenues while reading his work..but certainly be ready to question basic precepts that may be holding you up. Hideous is another great work..the nine words after the third date is my favorite..simply because I enjoy laughter..but the entire book is excellent...wish I would have had him when I went to Illinois State U. 30 years ago..instead of becoming a school teacher I may have become a carney.

Comparatively accessible, and highly rewarding

I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and reward of Infinite Jest (it took a couple of months to get through, and the next book I read took around 2 days) as well as The Girl With Curious Hair, but never got to grips with A Supposedly Fun Thing, so I was uncertain about how much I would enjoy these Brief Interviews. However, almost all of these stories (the exception being Tri-Stan) had me rapt, they were so brilliant. True there is a lot of repetitiveness, only just on the right side of excessive, but in for instance The Depressed Person it served to heighten the endless reworking of the person's fears. Plus I knew this wasn't going to be an easy read, although I found it to be a breeze compared to Infinite Jest.One thing I've noticed has been missing from the reviews of this has been Wallace's simply awesome use of words. I love the way the words in the story fit exactly as they should, not to say that there aren't surprises and loops where I couldn't help but laugh at the audacity. But in the interviews themselves it's so easy to imagine a real person speaking what's written, the way they're interrupted and interrupt themselves. What's also impressive in the interviews is the lack of words from the interviewer, which I found forced me to concentrate more on the book, and gave me the fun exercise of thinking of the questions; and that only in the last shocking interview do we get anything of the interviewer's persona. And I suppose even Tri-Stan's wordplay was entertaining, although for me it was too long and rambling; Wallace's stories generally work best for me when they're more condensed. This is one book I can't wait to re-read.