First published in America in 1979, The Gift is a modern classic which remarkably has never before been published in Britain. This inspiring examination of the 'gift economy' is even more relevant now than when it originally appeared, a brilliantly argued defence of the place of creativity in our increasingly market-orientated society. The Gift actually deserves the hyperbolic praise that in most blurbs is so empty. It is the sort of book that you remember where you were and even what you were wearing when you first picked it up. The sort that you hector friends about until they read it too. This is not just formulaic blurbspeak; it is the truth. No one who is invested in any kind of art, in questions of what real art does and doesn't have to do with money, spirituality, ego, love, ugliness, sales, politics, morality, marketing, and whatever you call 'value', can read The Gift and remain unchanged. - David Foster Wallace.