A visionary, a craftsman, a comedian ... He can do anything with a piece of prose, and it is a humbling experience to see him go to work on what has passed up till now as ''modern fiction''. He''s so modern he''s in a different time-space continuum from the rest of us. Goddamn him'' ZADIE SMITHA recognised master of form and a brilliant recorder of human behaviour, David Foster Wallace has been hailed as ''the most significant writer of his generation'' (TLS). Each new book confirms and extends his genius, and this new short story collection is no exception. In the stories that make up OBLIVION, David Foster Wallace conjoins the rawest, most naked humanity with the infinite convolutions of self-consciousness - a combination that is dazzlingly, uniquely his.''Wallace''s talent is such that you can''t help wondering: how good can he get?'' TIME OUT