Published when Wallace was just twenty-four years old, The Broom of the System stunned critics and marked the emergence of an extraordinary new talent. At the center of this outlandishly funny, fiercely intelligent novel is the bewitching heroine, Lenore Stonecipher Beadsman. The year is 1990 and the place is a slightly altered Cleveland, Ohio. Lenore's great-grandmother has disappeared with twenty-five other inmates of the Shaker Heights Nursing Home. Her beau, and boss, Rick Vigorous, is insanely jealous, and her cockatiel, Vlad the Impaler, has suddenly started spouting a mixture of psycho- babble, Auden, and the King James Bible. Ingenious and entertaining, this debut from one of the most innovative writers of his generation brilliantly explores the paradoxes of language, storytelling, and reality.

《遗忘》是大卫•福斯特•华莱士最后一本短篇集，收录了华莱士的8篇短篇，其中包括2002年获得欧•亨利短篇小说奖的《美好的旧日霓虹（Good Old Neon）》。整个短篇集是华莱士关于“现实性，梦想，心灵伤害以及意识动态”的探索。《美好的旧日霓虹》讲诉的是关于一个骗子的独白，骗子向自己的精神科医生讲述了自己的欺骗行为、如何做手脚以及骗局是如何失败的。同名小说《遗忘》讲述了一对空巢夫妻（女儿离家上大学去了），因为丈夫的呼噜问题而引发的争吵。幽默的对话既表现出空巢夫妻的寂寞与无奈，也展现了一对相爱的人的生活乐趣。该书中除了获奖作品《美好的旧日霓虹》外，文学性最高的要数最后一篇《受难频道（The Suffering Channel）》，小说描写了一个害羞又内向的印第安艺术家，用人类的粪便做原料制作艺术品。他用一种离奇而又不脱离实际的故事，展现了一种审美的极端性。