Includes bibliographical references.

Big red son -- Certainly the end of something or other, one would sort of have to think -- Some remarks on Kafka's funniness from which probably not enough has been removed -- Authority and American usage -- The view from Mrs. Thompson's -- How Tracy Austin broke my heart -- Up, Simba -- Consider the lobster -- Joseph Frank's Dostoevsky -- Host.

For this collection, Wallace immerses himself in the three-ring circus that is the presidential race in order to document one of the most vicious campaigns in recent history. Later he strolls from booth to booth at a lobster festival in Maine and risks life and limb to get to the bottom of the lobster question. Then he wheedles his way into an L.A. radio studio, armed with tubs of chicken, to get the behind-the-scenes view of a conservative talk show featuring a host with an unnatural penchant for clothing that looks good only on the radio. Do lobsters feel pain? Did Franz Kafka have a sick sense of humor? What is John Updike's deal anyway? And who won the Adult Video News' Female Performer of the Year Award the same year Gwyneth Paltrow won her Oscar? Wallace answers these questions and more.--From publisher description.