7.8 /10 1 Votes
Cover artist John Fulbrook III Publication date May 28, 1999 ISBN 0-316-92541-1 Publisher Little, Brown and Company | 3.9/5 Goodreads Language English Pages 288 pp Originally published 28 May 1999 Genre Short story Country United States of America | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Media type Print (hardback, paperback) Adaptations Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (2007) Similar David Foster Wallace books, Short Stories | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
David foster wallace a radically condensed history of postindustrial life
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (1999) is a collection of 23 short stories by American David Foster Wallace. Several of the stories are entitled "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men" and are presented as transcripts of interviews with male subjects. The interviewer's questions are omitted from the transcripts, rendered merely as "Q." These stories and the rest of the collection are characterized by dark dry humor, alienation, and unconventional sexuality.
Contents
- David foster wallace a radically condensed history of postindustrial life
- Brief interviews with hideous men excerpt 20
- List of stories
- References
In 1997 Wallace was awarded the Aga Khan Prize for Fiction by editors of The Paris Review for "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men #6", which had appeared in the magazine and appears as "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men #20" in the collection.
Twelve of the "Interviews" were adapted into a stage play (Hideous Men) by Dylan McCullough in 2000, marking the first theatrical adaptation of any of Wallace's works. McCullough directed the premiere at the New York International Fringe Festival in August 2000.
In August 2012 British artists Andy Holden and David Raymond Conroy presented a stage adaptation of the book at the ICA, London, which later toured to Arnolfini, Bristol. The production used a variety of multimedia techniques such as projection of the letter 'Q' on a backdrop that disrupted the monologues and a system of ear-pieces and auto-cues to convey the script to the actors on stage. The adaptation used four of the interviews and one short story and contained new music by the Grubby Mitts.
21 of the interviews and stories were adapted and directed by David McGuff for Yellow Lab Productions entitled "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men." The production ran three nights, August 28–30, 2014, at the Hill Country Arts Foundation's Point Theater on the Elizabeth Huth Coates indoor stage.
Actor John Krasinski of The Office has adapted and directed a film version on the "Brief Interviews" stories that was released in 2009. Julianne Nicholson plays Sara Quinn, the interviewer unnamed in the stories.