On Conciseness

Most novels try to only show what is necessary to convey the setting, establish the timbre, and develop the characters. David Foster Wallace includes almost everything, incuding the chemical names of the drugs they're taking, and the copyright number of the television they watch. He is the opposite of concise. The plot is buried under 1,000 pages of details. Some details are more relevant than others. But they all help tell the story in the most realistic way possible, because in real life, isn't that how it is? We are confronted with an infinity of facts and it is our job to decipher our own plot: in reality there is no detail-filter.