String Theory: David Foster Wallace On Tennis: A Library of America Special Publication

(Hardback)

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Both a onetime 'near-great junior tennis player' and a lifelong connoisseur of the finer points of the game, David Foster Wallace wrote about tennis with the authority of an insider, the showmanship of a literary pyrotechnician, and the disarming admiration of an irrepressible fan. Including his masterful profiles of Roger Federer and Tracy Austin, String Theory gathers Wallace's five famous essays on tennis, pieces that have been hailed by sportswriters and literary critics alike as some of the greatest and most innovative magazine writing in recent memory.

Reviews

This book has nothing to do with physics, but its title will make you look super smart if youre reading it on a train or plane. Bill Gates

David Foster Wallaces Federer essay turned me into an avid tennis fan.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, The New YorkTimes Book Review

A wonderful and inspiring collection for fans of either tennis or eye-popping prose.
Austin American-Statesman

String Theory stands as a monument to Wallaces talentand his dedication to the game.
Doug Perry,The Oregonian/The Spin of the Ball

This collection is a tennis classic that deserves shelf space next to John McPhees Levels of the Game and Brad Gilberts Winning Ugly.Jeff Simon,The Buffalo News

David Foster Wallaces essays on tennis are a treasure, some of the best writing ever on the sport, and they are all here in the Library of Americas this deluxe hardcover collectors edition.
NY Sports Day

Ruminative, digressive, lyrical, funny, sad, sometimes borderline lunatic, these posthumously collected journalistic pieces have all the hallmarks of Wallaces novels.The Washington Post

A remarkable volume. . . . The tennis-obsessive will find Wallaces considerations almost bewilderingly insightful.The Telegraph(UK)

Wallaces grasp of tennis was truly prodigious.. . . He has often been described as the best tennis writer of all time, and these essays dont disabuse that notion.The Guardian (UK)

What makes this collection so valuable for serious tennis fans is the chance to see the most beautiful sport there is through Wallaces eyes.Toure,Town & Country

Author Bio

David Foster Wallace (19622008) was born in Ithaca, New York, in 1962 and raised in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, where in his teens he was a regionally ranked junior tennis player. His works includeInfinite Jest, Girl with Curious Hair, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, Oblivion,A Supposedly Fun Thing Ill Never Do Again, andConsider the Lobster. His final novel, The Pale King, was posthumously published in 2011.

John Jeremiah Sullivanis one of Americas leading practitioners of the long-form magazine profile, with work appearing in The New York Times Magazine(where he is a staff writer),Harpers(of which he is a contributing editor),The New Yorker, New York, Oxford American, GQ,and other magazines. He is the author ofBlood Horses: Notes of Sportswriters Son andPulphead.