Flop

Critter

Originally published in hardcover by Little, Brown and Company in 1997, A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again is a collection of essays and arguments by David Foster Wallace. Free from the house styles and editorial limitations of the publications in which they first appeared, the seven essays are printed in full, and with their original titles. In the fifth essay, David Lynch Keeps His Head, Wallace argues of Lynch’s Dune “The overall result is a movie that’s funny while it’s trying to be deadly serious, which is as good a definition of a flop as there is, and Dune was indeed a huge, pretentious, incoherent flop.” [“En-bee, which means noto beanie (sic; nota bene), which the audio comandante wants me to tell you means note well, but actually really means by the way”:] Most of the incoherence was beyond Lynch’s control. Redolent of Wallace’s magazine-essay editors, the producers of Lynch’s Dune had final cut. Wallace was inclined to recognize the detrimental effects of this predicament. But as fans of Wallace know, he was inclined to notice practically everything. His maximalist writing encouraged multifaceted awareness; footnotes within footnotes fell short of covering all Wallace wanted to convey. In effect, his writing says Look at it this way. and this way. and again the way you first looked at it. and now this other way, too.

A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again is the template for Flop, which replaces essays with art. In the book we cycle through different perspectives of Critter’s F, L, O, and P paintings, beginning with narrow views and ending with a more complete picture. Two paintings are compatible performative contradictions, and the other two are geometric post-impressionist-ish landscapes. With a multitude of possible readings, one can reasonably both agree and disagree with the arguments raised. Like lots of things, it’s not one or the other that’s true, but one and the other. Get a clue.

Published by Things Change Over Time

Paperback
4.25 × 6.875 in
52 pages

English

First Things Change Over Time Edition, First Printing
Numbered, Signed
Edition of 26

Out of print

$10.00

View the latest edition.

More from Critter

About Me book cover
Critter
About Me
Out of print
Beach Book Don’t Cheat book cover
Critter
Beach Book Don’t Cheat
Out of print
Book Of Lesser Value book cover
Critter
Book Of Lesser Value
Out of print
Book Of Lesser Value book cover
Critter
Book Of Lesser Value
$15.00
Can We Talk About… book cover
Critter
Can We Talk About…
Out of print
Can We Talk About… book cover
Critter
Can We Talk About…
Out of print
Coloring Book book cover
Critter
Coloring Book
Out of print
Coloring Book Second Printing book cover
Critter
Coloring Book Second Printing
Out of print
Flop book cover
Critter
Flop
Out of print
Flop book cover
Critter
Flop
Out of print
Flop book cover
Critter
Flop
$10
Forgetting The Curve book cover
Critter
Forgetting The Curve
Out of print
Game Worn Jersey book cover
Critter
Game Worn Jersey
Out of print
Happy Birthday To You book cover
Critter
Happy Birthday To You
Out of print
Hillsborough Street book cover
Critter
Hillsborough Street
Out of print
Hillsborough Street book cover
Critter
Hillsborough Street
Out of print
Hillsborough Street book cover
Critter
Hillsborough Street
$15.00
I Got This In Stead Of A Space Heater One Year book cover
Critter
I Got This In Stead Of A Space Heater One Year
Out of print
I Got These In Stead Of A Space Heater One Year book cover
Critter
I Got These In Stead Of A Space Heater One Year
Out of print
Inferior Quotations book cover
Critter
Inferior Quotations
Out of print
Inferior Quotations book cover
Critter
Inferior Quotations
Out of print
Inferior Quotations book cover
Critter
Inferior Quotations
Out of print
Inferior Quotations book cover
Critter
Inferior Quotations
Out of print
Inferior Quotations book cover
Critter
Inferior Quotations
Out of print
Lisa book cover
Critter
Lisa
Out of print
Mrs. Clarke — Kindergarten book cover
Critter
Mrs. Clarke — Kindergarten
Out of print
My Winter Coat (The Inside Part) book cover
Critter
My Winter Coat (The Inside Part)
Out of print
My Winter Coat (The Outside Part) book cover
Critter
My Winter Coat (The Outside Part)
Out of print
One Day I Walked Along Hillsborough Street book cover
Critter
One Day I Walked Along Hillsborough Street
Out of print
Some Thing Yummy book cover
Critter
Some Thing Yummy
Out of print
Stations book cover
Critter
Stations
Out of print
Stations book cover
Critter
Stations
$10.00
Things Change Over Time book cover
Critter
Things Change Over Time
Out of print
This Lush Little Meadow book cover
Critter
This Lush Little Meadow
Out of print
This Lush Little Meadow book cover
Critter
This Lush Little Meadow
$10.00