What is DFW's best short story?

not that guy but the most common criticism of Gass is that he is a cold theoretician who doesn't view his characters as real people, nor even the language he writes in. Remember his background is hardcore analytic philosophy, his thesis adviser was Max Black

I love Delillo and I do see the similarities in the way they write about people living within systems. I think my issue with Oblivion is that too many stories are character-less which is what marks is as different to Delillo's best work and also The Broom of the System (the only actual DFW novel I've read). The experience of reading many of those stories was like reading through the ingredients list on the back of a chocolate bar. Good Old Neon is fucking excellent though.

Mister Squishy is his best piece technically imo. Good Old Neon is most visceral. Octet is stylistically his best. The Depressed Person is his most neurotic and "funny".

Yep, it's Good Old Neon, because it's so insanely ruthless and relatable (4 me to be h)

Hm. I read Omensetter's Luck and The Tunnel, and was acquainted with this view of Gass as mostly caring about prose and theory instead of characters, and was pretty surprised. Furber and Kohler seem to me like very real, intricately portrayed characters. In fact, wonderfully well done. They feel like real characters to me still.