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Getting Away from Already Being Pretty Much Away from It All: An Essay
One of David Foster Wallace's most famous essays, now available as an eBook short.
Beloved for his keen eye, sharp wit, and relentless self-mockery, David Foster Wallace has been celebrated by both critics and fans as the voice of a generation. In this hilarious essay, originally published in the collection A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, he ventures to the Illinois State Fair, where he examines butter sculptures, munches on corndogs, and swaps stories with local exhibitors. As he wanders through this endlessly fascinating world, Wallace's one-of-a-kind blend of humor and insight is on full display. "Getting Away from Already Being Pretty Much Away from It All" is an uproarious and ultimately unforgettable foray into a classic part of American life and culture.
Beloved for his keen eye, sharp wit, and relentless self-mockery, David Foster Wallace has been celebrated by both critics and fans as the voice of a generation. In this hilarious essay, originally published in the collection A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, he ventures to the Illinois State Fair, where he examines butter sculptures, munches on corndogs, and swaps stories with local exhibitors. As he wanders through this endlessly fascinating world, Wallace's one-of-a-kind blend of humor and insight is on full display. "Getting Away from Already Being Pretty Much Away from It All" is an uproarious and ultimately unforgettable foray into a classic part of American life and culture.
368 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 1, 2012
60 people are currently reading
331 people want to read
About the author
David Foster Wallace
131 books13.3k followersDavid Foster Wallace was an acclaimed American writer known for his fiction, nonfiction, and critical essays that explored the complexities of consciousness, irony, and the human condition. Widely regarded as one of the most innovative literary voices of his generation, Wallace is perhaps best known for his 1996 novel Infinite Jest, which was listed by Time magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels published between 1923 and 2005. His unfinished final novel, The Pale King, was published posthumously in 2011 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Born in Ithaca, New York, Wallace was raised in Illinois, where he excelled as both a student and a junior tennis player—a sport he later wrote about with sharp insight and humor. He earned degrees in English and philosophy from Amherst College, then completed an MFA in creative writing at the University of Arizona. His early academic work in logic and philosophy informed much of his writing, particularly in his blending of analytical depth with emotional complexity.
Wallace’s first novel, The Broom of the System (1987), established his reputation as a fresh literary talent. Over the next two decades, he published widely in prestigious journals and magazines, producing short stories, essays, and book reviews that earned him critical acclaim. His work was characterized by linguistic virtuosity, inventive structure, and a deep concern for moral and existential questions. In addition to fiction, he tackled topics ranging from tennis and state fairs to cruise ships, politics, and the ethics of food consumption.
Beyond his literary achievements, Wallace had a significant academic career, teaching literature and writing at Emerson College, Illinois State University, and Pomona College. He was known for his intense engagement with students and commitment to teaching.
Wallace struggled with depression and addiction for much of his adult life, and he was hospitalized multiple times. He died by suicide in 2008 at the age of 46. In the years since his death, his influence has continued to grow, inspiring scholars, conferences, and a dedicated readership. However, his legacy is complicated by posthumous revelations of abusive behavior, particularly during his relationship with writer Mary Karr, which has led to ongoing debate within literary and academic communities.
His distinctive voice—by turns cerebral, comic, and compassionate—remains a defining force in contemporary literature. Wallace once described fiction as a way of making readers feel "less alone inside," and it is that emotional resonance, alongside his formal daring, that continues to define his place in American letters.
Born in Ithaca, New York, Wallace was raised in Illinois, where he excelled as both a student and a junior tennis player—a sport he later wrote about with sharp insight and humor. He earned degrees in English and philosophy from Amherst College, then completed an MFA in creative writing at the University of Arizona. His early academic work in logic and philosophy informed much of his writing, particularly in his blending of analytical depth with emotional complexity.
Wallace’s first novel, The Broom of the System (1987), established his reputation as a fresh literary talent. Over the next two decades, he published widely in prestigious journals and magazines, producing short stories, essays, and book reviews that earned him critical acclaim. His work was characterized by linguistic virtuosity, inventive structure, and a deep concern for moral and existential questions. In addition to fiction, he tackled topics ranging from tennis and state fairs to cruise ships, politics, and the ethics of food consumption.
Beyond his literary achievements, Wallace had a significant academic career, teaching literature and writing at Emerson College, Illinois State University, and Pomona College. He was known for his intense engagement with students and commitment to teaching.
Wallace struggled with depression and addiction for much of his adult life, and he was hospitalized multiple times. He died by suicide in 2008 at the age of 46. In the years since his death, his influence has continued to grow, inspiring scholars, conferences, and a dedicated readership. However, his legacy is complicated by posthumous revelations of abusive behavior, particularly during his relationship with writer Mary Karr, which has led to ongoing debate within literary and academic communities.
His distinctive voice—by turns cerebral, comic, and compassionate—remains a defining force in contemporary literature. Wallace once described fiction as a way of making readers feel "less alone inside," and it is that emotional resonance, alongside his formal daring, that continues to define his place in American letters.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
November 5, 2015
I'm not objective...
...because I just love Wallace's writing style. I am in awe of writers who can string together words that stop me dead, writers who force me to reread a passage several times, not because I'm not understanding the meaning, but because a metaphor is so unique, yet apropos, or an image so richly described, I just want to revel in the words. And the analyses and insights he offers, the paradoxes he uncovers, keep a reader busy pondering and comparing his own perspective. Reading Wallace is not a passive exercise. One needs to be completely engaged, otherwise there's a high risk of missing a Wallace literary bonbon.
...because I just love Wallace's writing style. I am in awe of writers who can string together words that stop me dead, writers who force me to reread a passage several times, not because I'm not understanding the meaning, but because a metaphor is so unique, yet apropos, or an image so richly described, I just want to revel in the words. And the analyses and insights he offers, the paradoxes he uncovers, keep a reader busy pondering and comparing his own perspective. Reading Wallace is not a passive exercise. One needs to be completely engaged, otherwise there's a high risk of missing a Wallace literary bonbon.
January 12, 2013
I enjoyed this well enough. It definitely made me a little nostalgic for the North Carolina state fair. I enjoy DFW's writing style in this piece. I appreciate his 'east coast snobbery' as applied to state fair culture while also seeing it as being a little paternalistic (at best) or condescending (at worst).
October 5, 2025
USA es el backroom más terrorífico de todos. ha sido una lectura a la par de inquietante, divertida. ha confirmado la sensación que tuve cuando estuve viviendo en dicho país.
January 12, 2021
"It strikes me hardest in the Hollow that I am not spiritually Midwestern anymore, and no longer young - I do not like crowds, screams, loud noise, or heat. I'll endure these things if I have to, but they're no longer my idea of a Special Treat or sacred Community-interval.
The crowds in the Hollow - mostly high school couples, local toughs, and kids in single-sex packs, as the demographics of the Fair shift to prime time - seem radically gratified, vivid, actuated, sponges for sensuous data, feeding on it all somehow. It's the first time I've felt truly lonely at the Fair."
- DFW
The crowds in the Hollow - mostly high school couples, local toughs, and kids in single-sex packs, as the demographics of the Fair shift to prime time - seem radically gratified, vivid, actuated, sponges for sensuous data, feeding on it all somehow. It's the first time I've felt truly lonely at the Fair."
- DFW
February 3, 2017
This kept reminding me of Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas, only instead of a drugged up reporter reporting on the mint 400, you have a literature nerd describing the Illinois state fair. So, I guess they are nothing alike, but I... got the same kind of flavor, of this... unreal foreignness, being both in and above, travelogue as anthropological study of very strange creatures.
July 8, 2014
I started out as a fan of his novels, but ultimately became more fond of his essays. Highly recommended, the whole collection.
February 22, 2018
It's DFW
You had me at DFW. Looking at the world through his genius is worth the price of admission. A riveting look at a State fair and the people who love it.
You had me at DFW. Looking at the world through his genius is worth the price of admission. A riveting look at a State fair and the people who love it.
May 14, 2025
"What's Special here is the offer of a vacation from alienation, a chance for a moment to love what real life out here can't let you love."
Got to get my 50 books in somehow. Anyways I figure this'll give me a chance to talk about one of my favorite authors, David Foster Wallace (it's good to know he also thinks Dippin' Dots are stupid). GAFABPMAFIA is another one of DFW's essays written on assignment, where Harper's or the New Yorker have given him a big check simply to attend an event (Caribbean cruises, U.S. Open, Maine Lobster Fest, etc.) and write about it. Sounds boring, but these weird diary-entry/essays are some of the best stuff I've ever read. Full stop.
This one's about his week spent patrolling the Illinois State Fair - watching over clogging competitions, getting kicked off of children's rides, spiraling about novelty T-shirts, and putting himself into the hospital abusing his Press credential for free deserts (+ much more). It's as brilliant as the others.
Thoughts:
One of the things DFW haters say is that he's kind of snide, or overly-intellectual, or that he thinks he's smarter and better than the people he writes about. I understand that take when I read stuff like this: ("Kmart People tend to be overweight, polyestered, grim-faced, toting glazed unhappy children... They are sharp-voiced and snap at their families. They're the type you see slapping their kids in supermarket checkouts.") It's easy to picture him sneering. I'll die on the hill that he ISN'T, though. He's a bit of a dick, but he's sentimental, and he IS genuine. He's not just walking around laughing at people. There is heart here. ("The Press seem unmoved. I thought his remarks were kind of powerful, though.")
To get the obvious one out of the way, GAFABPMAFIA is as funny as his other stuff. It feels like he makes me grin easily, without any effort, as evidenced by all the little throwaway observations that made me laugh out loud:
("The Mrs. Edgar/McDonald's Help Me Grow Program, when you decoct the rhetoric, is basically a statewide crisis line for over-the-edge parents to call and get talked out of beating their kids. The number of calls Mrs. Edgar says the line's fielded just this year is both de- and im-pressive.")
("Two minors from Carbondale arrested riding The Zipper last night when a vial of cocaine fell out of one of their pockets and direct-hit a state trooper alertly eating a Lemon Push-Up on the midway below.")
("A squad of eleven-year-olds from Towanda does an involved [baton-twirling] routine in tribute to Operation Desert Storm.")
Even if he spends so much time (especially here) identifying himself as sorta East-Coast-Other, you have to remember that his roots are in the Midwest, and he wrote about the area so VIVIDLY. I very dearly wish there was someone writing about Seattle the way DFW wrote about the Midwest.
The comparison he draws between East Coast, big-city vacations out into remote mountains and calm beaches vs Midwest, flyover-state vacations as communal (State Fairs and tailgates and megachurches) is genuinely stunning. That whole thread of flight-towards vs flight-away is seriously something I'll thing about forever.
David Foster Wallace puts stuff in my head like that. 5 stars for him again. Duh.
Got to get my 50 books in somehow. Anyways I figure this'll give me a chance to talk about one of my favorite authors, David Foster Wallace (it's good to know he also thinks Dippin' Dots are stupid). GAFABPMAFIA is another one of DFW's essays written on assignment, where Harper's or the New Yorker have given him a big check simply to attend an event (Caribbean cruises, U.S. Open, Maine Lobster Fest, etc.) and write about it. Sounds boring, but these weird diary-entry/essays are some of the best stuff I've ever read. Full stop.
This one's about his week spent patrolling the Illinois State Fair - watching over clogging competitions, getting kicked off of children's rides, spiraling about novelty T-shirts, and putting himself into the hospital abusing his Press credential for free deserts (+ much more). It's as brilliant as the others.
Thoughts:
One of the things DFW haters say is that he's kind of snide, or overly-intellectual, or that he thinks he's smarter and better than the people he writes about. I understand that take when I read stuff like this: ("Kmart People tend to be overweight, polyestered, grim-faced, toting glazed unhappy children... They are sharp-voiced and snap at their families. They're the type you see slapping their kids in supermarket checkouts.") It's easy to picture him sneering. I'll die on the hill that he ISN'T, though. He's a bit of a dick, but he's sentimental, and he IS genuine. He's not just walking around laughing at people. There is heart here. ("The Press seem unmoved. I thought his remarks were kind of powerful, though.")
To get the obvious one out of the way, GAFABPMAFIA is as funny as his other stuff. It feels like he makes me grin easily, without any effort, as evidenced by all the little throwaway observations that made me laugh out loud:
("The Mrs. Edgar/McDonald's Help Me Grow Program, when you decoct the rhetoric, is basically a statewide crisis line for over-the-edge parents to call and get talked out of beating their kids. The number of calls Mrs. Edgar says the line's fielded just this year is both de- and im-pressive.")
("Two minors from Carbondale arrested riding The Zipper last night when a vial of cocaine fell out of one of their pockets and direct-hit a state trooper alertly eating a Lemon Push-Up on the midway below.")
("A squad of eleven-year-olds from Towanda does an involved [baton-twirling] routine in tribute to Operation Desert Storm.")
Even if he spends so much time (especially here) identifying himself as sorta East-Coast-Other, you have to remember that his roots are in the Midwest, and he wrote about the area so VIVIDLY. I very dearly wish there was someone writing about Seattle the way DFW wrote about the Midwest.
The comparison he draws between East Coast, big-city vacations out into remote mountains and calm beaches vs Midwest, flyover-state vacations as communal (State Fairs and tailgates and megachurches) is genuinely stunning. That whole thread of flight-towards vs flight-away is seriously something I'll thing about forever.
David Foster Wallace puts stuff in my head like that. 5 stars for him again. Duh.
February 19, 2022
An excellent and thoroughly detailed examination of the Illinois State Fair by DFW. Fantastic details that remind me of my own visits to the California State Fair. Wallace covers everything in detail from the Ag pros to the carnies, with their sickening tans. He attempts to capture the entire fair from the attendees to the workers to the situation. It's long and incredibly detailed, but probably worth it. It's always fun to spend time with David Foster Wallace.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
January 1, 2023
This was a very well written essay/book. His descriptive prose really made me feel like I was there and conjured many memories. I also enjoyed his perspective on many of the issues. Sad to see that he is gone.
May 7, 2019
Me ha resultado más amigable (aunque no menos lacerante) leer los ensayos de David Foster Wallace.
July 22, 2019
Reading again after many years
October 19, 2020
If you ever wanted to go to the zoo to watch US denizens then this is your book.
Pure etnography with a comedic touch.
Pure etnography with a comedic touch.
December 26, 2023
Read the original publication “Ticket to the Fair” in three July 1994 issue of Harper’s.
April 23, 2025
solid bent-over investigative journalism!
July 18, 2025
Do NOT invite David Foster Wallace to your state fair.
August 11, 2025
Audiobook.
November 10, 2025
Este es en realidad el ensayo preliminar o de entrenamiento que da pie a "Algo supuestamente divertido..."
Lo dicho en la reseña que hice, es la misma.
Lo dicho en la reseña que hice, es la misma.
April 26, 2013
My first David foster Wallace and I'm in love with his writing. This is hilarious and wonderful.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews