A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again

A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again is a 1997 essay collection by David Foster Wallace. The seven essays explore 1990s US social issues through subjects such as television, tennis, and (in the most famous essay) a Caribbean cruise. The essays have been referenced many times in popular culture, particularly the title essay, which recounts Wallace’s experiences on a cruise.

This guide references the 1998 Abacus edition of the collection.

Summary

In the first essay, “Derivative Sport in Tornado Alley,” Wallace reflects on playing competitive junior tennis as a youth in Urbana, Illinois, when he discovered a talent for geometrically visualizing tennis court conditions and used it to his advantage. This tactic allowed him to execute a defensive style of play involving little more than returning volleys until his opponent made a mistake, became exhausted, or became frustrated. Wallace’s approach served him well until puberty, at which point he developed much slower physically than other boys his age. Before long, his defensive mathematical approach failed as bigger, stronger opponents simply overpowered him.

The next essay is titled “E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction.” The first phrase in this title is a play on the Latin phrase “E Pluribus Unum” (“out of many, one”), a US motto printed on the country’s currency.