Infinite Jest [R]

Discussion in 'Books' started by Bluto11, Jan 10, 2011.

  1. Bluto11

    Bluto11 The sky is falling!

    May 16, 2003
    Chicago, IL
    Finished off this one today.

    Someone want to explain it to me? :D
     
  2. Dr. Wankler

    Dr. Wankler Member+

    May 2, 2001
    The Electric City
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Strange timing. The Chronicle of Higher Education has an article about Foster turning into a scholarly industry, which I think would've horrified him.

    http://chronicle.com/article/The-Afterlife-of-David-Foster/125823/

    It's a paysite, but you'll be able to access it for awhile longer through the Aldaily.com site:

    http://www.aldaily.com

    It's on the left side, under articles of note. As we get farther and farther away from January 10th, it will be lower and lower on the page.

    There are links in the article to Infinite Summer and the DFW fansite, the Howling Fantods. There's also a link to an article in Business Week that drops a reference to Infinite Jest in an article about college football.

    Finally, the article refers to a book I read this summer that's pretty interesting, a long interview with Wallace published as Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip With David Foster Wallace by David Lipsky.
     
  3. Bluto11

    Bluto11 The sky is falling!

    May 16, 2003
    Chicago, IL
    Interesting theory on the end (don't read unless you have finished, or just want to know the end):

    http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/ijend


    I liked parts of the book. I really liked Hal, Gately not so much. I was fascinated by the conversatsions between Steepley and Marathe on the mountain in AZ and the entire concept behind the Wheelchair Assassins.
     
  4. Felixx219

    Felixx219 BigSoccer Supporter

    Nov 8, 2004
    Kansas City, MO
    Club:
    Kansas City Wizards
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I got this book for Christmas and I really want to read it but it seems like something that needs to be taken on when the time is right.

    Is it really heavy reading? Should I wait for summer or time when I dont have as many things going on?
     
  5. Felixx219

    Felixx219 BigSoccer Supporter

    Nov 8, 2004
    Kansas City, MO
    Club:
    Kansas City Wizards
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I got this book for Christmas and I really want to read it but it seems like something that needs to be taken on when the time is right.

    Is it really heavy reading? Should I wait for summer or time when I dont have as many things going on?
     
  6. usscouse

    usscouse BigSoccer Supporter

    May 3, 2002
    Orygun coast
    Someone should mention the title..:)
     
  7. Dr. Wankler

    Dr. Wankler Member+

    May 2, 2001
    The Electric City
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    It's very heavy reading. I like it quite a bit, but it's not a beach read.

    My approach to the footnotes was to keep a separate bookmark in the back of the book. In general, I'd read a chapter and then head back to the footnotes. After awhile, it will become clear which footnotes you can skim and which add something to the story. Some of them are hysterical.

    Keep in mind also that it's set in the future, when the US is part of a North American alliance in which things like the calandar year are sold to corporations for naming rights. IIRC parts of it take place in "The Year of the Depends Adult Disposable Undergarment." In short, it's basically set a few years into the future though it was written about 20 years ago
     
  8. FallOfFingolfin

    Mar 5, 2009
    Illinois
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm reading this one this summer. Really looking forward to it.

    I'm a big DFW fan, but haven't really tackled his fiction yet. I adore the essays in Consider the Lobster and A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, and it was his tennis writing that really attracted me to him.
     
  9. PabloDebarge

    PabloDebarge Member

    Jul 29, 2012
    Club:
    Fluminense Rio Janeiro
    Have yet to submit to the DFW behemoth known as Infinte Jest. But got through The Pale King just fine and recommend it with only minor reservations. Some of the middle sections were (I believe) intended to be tedious as this is a book essentially about boredom.

    The Lipsky book, referenced earlier in the thread, was interesting but IMO ruined by the authors constant interpretations of intent and meaning, rather than letting the conversations and experiences speak for themselves.
     

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