When Dave Eggers is finally critically keel-hauled and goes under the waves for the last time, David Foster Wallace will no doubt be safely on shore, pounding out another in his series of post-modern works of actual genius (or at least magnificent failure). Oblivion is Wallace’s first fiction in five years, though he’s still best known for 1995’s Infinite Jest, a novel the size of a telephone book which many people actually finished (or claimed to). Most of the short stories in Oblivion, Wallace’s third collection, are as finely wrought as Infinite Jest was grandiose. Yuppies, ad agencies, and Orwellian sleep clinics are the suspects this time, and Wallace rounds them up with authority. (Available June 8)
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