Composition and Publication
The collection's writing “overlapped” with Wallace's last novel, The Pale King, and many of the stories came from notebooks that he used to write the book and may have begun as sections of it.
Wallace first suggested a new collection of stories to his editor Michael Pietsch in October of 2001. Much of the editing appears to have been completed by October 2003. Published in June of 2004, the book sold eighteen thousand hardcover copies in its first year.
Read more about this topic: Oblivion: Stories
Famous quotes containing the words composition and/or publication:
“Give a scientist a problem and he will probably provide a solution; historians and sociologists, by contrast, can offer only opinions. Ask a dozen chemists the composition of an organic compound such as methane, and within a short time all twelve will have come up with the same solution of CH4. Ask, however, a dozen economists or sociologists to provide policies to reduce unemployment or the level of crime and twelve widely differing opinions are likely to be offered.”
—Derek Gjertsen, British scientist, author. Science and Philosophy: Past and Present, ch. 3, Penguin (1989)
“Of all human events, perhaps, the publication of a first volume of verses is the most insignificant; but though a matter of no moment to the world, it is still of some concern to the author.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)