Reading infinite jest without reading the footnotes ive decided to read infinite jest, but quickly became frustrated by the footnotes, specifically the fact that theyre in the back of the book. I recently bought the uk version of the book published by abacus an imprint of little brown so that i could compare that version. Early into the book the footnotes dont seem to add much to the story, so i decided fuck it, im going to skip them. I do not believe aaron swartzs explanation so here. The lengthy and complex work takes place in a semiparodic future version of north america, and touches on tennis, substance addiction and recovery programs, depression, child abuse, family relationships, advertising and popular entertainment, film theory, and quebec separatism, among other topics. Join endurance bibliophiles from around the world in reading infinite jest over the summer of 2009, june 21st to september 22nd. David foster wallace, the reigning champion of footnotes, decided to use endnotes for infinite jest for practical as well as aesthetic reasons. I remember harish venkatesan lugging around the paperback copy in college and hearing that this effort was part of the experience. Reading infinite jest without reading the footnotes. But my enjoyment of the book is not outpacing my growing frustration with it.
In the context of new sinceritysomething of a trend in u. I mention erroneously in the episode that members of the afr gets their legs run over as a right of passage. Archfax database for information about this group, one of the most feared cells in the annals. Infinite jest is a 1996 novel by american writer david foster wallace. I keep trying to settle on reading infinite jest on my kindle, because. Archfax database for information about this group, one. If you want to know why i ignore most of the footnotes, check out footnote 216. What follows is a reshuffling of all the scenes in infinite jest as they occur. Was the allegedly fatally entertaining and scopophiliac thing jim alleges he made out of her. You start the book having no clue when it is happening and who the various characters are.
Wallace, or his narrator, only of the translation of those authors work into language. That was tough, as footnote 304 was all about one of hals classmates and how he was researching a paper for class on the wheelchair assassins and the paper he was plagiarizing. Jul 01, 2009 i find that incomprehensible, as footnote 304 is one of my favorite bits of the entire book its an infodump presented in the form of an anecdote about a student plagiarizing a term paper from. It totally sucks that pages 1727 of infinite jest erdedy waits for pot are 100 times better than any short story i will ever write, and yet are only 1100th of the whole. Once they add more records and there are many in the works, upgrade the search feature, and do some tweaking, it has the potential to be a 5 star site. Jun 29, 2009 but to some up, dylan and i are apparently identical people who both dont like reading fiction but were tempted into infinite jest by the fact that 1 david foster wallace writes a lot of nonfiction and seemed like a nonfiction fans novelist and 2 in an earlier life, i had a mild obsession with provincial canadian politics. Anyway, i drew the lines with info from infinite jest on pages 93, 403 and 438. It has been categorized as an encyclopedic novel and made time magazines list of the 100 best englishlanguage novels published between 1923 and 2005. If youre putting in the effort to read infinite jest then. Diagnosing david foster wallace its been twelve years since infinite jest was first published, and by now david foster wallaces gargantuan novel should have had enough time to settle. I went to a few bookstores in my area to check out their copys of infinite jest and they are all the back bay 10th anniversary edition with the errors. Despite being a newcomer to the world of digitized historic. Specifically the oversized shelf, adjusted to accommodate textbooks, magazines, and tomes of infinite dimensions, a realm from whence literature rarely returns. Unfortunately, my own prose is often too tortured to enable me enough.
With infinite jest, at 1079 pages long, give it at least 107 pages before ditching it. Consulting the oracle, he said this of the endnotes in infinite jest they have served other purposes though in his other works obviously, considering that they are much more condensed. I guess what i would ask is what happens when you run across a word whose precise definition you dont know in any book. But to some up, dylan and i are apparently identical people who both dont like reading fiction but were tempted into infinite jest by the fact that 1 david foster wallace writes a lot. May 04, 2020 a highly visual, auditory, and informative section of ij today. The mystery of the entertainment master infinite tasks of. Steeplys description matches erdedy, torn between wanting to quit and wanting to keep smoking and pulled in two directions without a thought in his head at the end of his introductory scene 27. Didion, hawthorne, and the inbetween is a podcast that aims to make literature more accessible to modern audiences. Infinite jest 20th anniversary edition special edition. Incandenzas filmography footnote is definitely up there.
There is stuff that happens in the opening pages that explains events at the end of the book, albeit over pages and hundreds of footnotes away. If a book is available as both a print book and ebook you should follow the rule cite what you used and cite whatever version of the book you accessed for your assignment. Look at the books to see how footnotes are employed and to what effect. Infinite babes, i hope yall are getting through the book alright.
This deluxe paperback editionfeaturing flaps, new cover art, and a new foreword by tom bissellcelebrates the 20th anniversary of the original publication of infinite jest. Hosted by northwestern student mackenzie gentz, the podcast explores literature as old as 1590 the taming of the sh. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a style of composition that flourished in europe from about. Well have a new one in this topic every 100 pages or so, and ill post them to my tumblr as well. May 07, 20 infinite jest is a difficult book in a dozen ways. A gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in america set in an addicts halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwedup family to. I was pretty sure greg carlisle had something like this somewhere in his excellent guide to infinite jest, elegant complexity i cant recommend carlisles book enough but sans index and after lots of flipping, i guess not. Underline words you want to look up later or, if you are reading the e book, highlight words not in the kindle or ios dictionary, star your favorite sentences, make lists of characters, etc. During the scene in which don gately receives his gunshot, two men. How is the experience of reading infinite jest on a kindle. Infinite winter page 3 of 12 read infinite jest with a. David foster wallace writing styles in infinite jest david foster wallace this study guide consists of approximately 44 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of infinite jest. Infinite summer blog archive infinite summery week 2.
Like many of us, i found this stretch of the book much more difficult. In april, 1994, he presented the idea to pietsch, adding, ive become intensely attached to this strategy and will fight wall 20 claws to preserve it. Doesnt mean its bad, but theres a reason the onion wrote an article about dfws girlfriend being too bored by his breakup letter to read it all, and pictures for sad children did that comic about dfws castaway letter being too long for airplane pilots to read. When we meet day, we are told he is a redwineandquaalude man. The novel is widely noted for its unconventional narrative structure and its experimental use of endnotes there are 388 endnotes, some with footnotes of their own. Apr 25, 2016 enter one of the most famous and oftcited passages from infinite jest, that of the hip millennial entertainment description and its impact on hal incandenzas psychospiritual state 6945. His demise, recounted in horrifying detail, serves at least two purposes. Prime infinite jestauthor david foster wallace replica. David foster wallace writing styles in infinite jest. Infinite jest footnote question hello all, im currently reading ij and just got to this moment that brought me to footnote 39, which describes the afr and mentions remy marathes late older brothers and that has its own footnote that says see footnote 304 sub. I am coming more and more to suspect that infinite jest would be a great book at half its current. Infinite summer view topic pact to get through endnote 304. Like the man says at every moment, an infinite regress lies in wait for the unwary.
Not every scene in the book is labeled with a definitive date, or has events or. Judge mr wise, you appear before the court today on the charge of failing to adore infinite jest, an act in gross and flagrant violation of basic goodreads standards of decency how do you plead warwick welli mean presumably this kind of thing is all subjective opinion, so prosecutor let the record show. Infinite jest is a 1996 novel by david foster wallace. Poor lucien antitoi meets his broomswallowingdemise at the hands of smileyfaced a. Jun 27, 2016 poor yoricks summer infinite jest, pages 6495 our second section of reading gets into some meaty bits, including james incandenzas extensive filmography, kate gomperts depression, some beautiful thoughts on tennis from gerhardt schtitt, the introduction of remy marathe and hugh steeply, and endnote 304 which features background on the afr. Wallaces storytelling style seems to have an obsessive cataloging flavor as well as a more traditional narrative flavor compare the eta drug culture description or incandenzas filmography with gatelys breakins. Infinite summer formed in the summer of 2009 to read david foster wallaces masterwork infinite jest.
Steven asin infinite jest is the perfect book for the kindle paperwhite. Aug 24, 2012 finally, some styleformatting things to discuss. Usher goodreads court is now in session, the honourable judge chandler presiding all rise. So it looks like back bay is printing the book with these errors. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Contrary to eden, my own available reading time has recently increased, and i find myself 10 or 12 pages ahead of schedule, closing in on fridays target. Infinite jests characters are authors of this realm of the novel. I mean the one about the cult of the next train is, by the way, a joyous afternoon cruise on the. The mystery of the entertainment master infinite tasks. On the one hand, we are offered a frightening prefiguration of hals contortions and aphonia from the beginning of the book. Here is a long list of fiction that uses footnotes or endnotes. Enter one of the most famous and oftcited passages from infinite jest, that of the hip millennial entertainment description and its impact on hal incandenzas psychospiritual state 6945. Anyone else invited to join in public 304 pacting in whatever form you like.
Footnote 304 explains that members of the afr were injured as adolescents playing. Infinite jest is such a prosobriety, antidrug book that allowing hal to watch the entertainment without being totally lost would seem out of place. In this context, the word footnotes refers to the wikipediaspecific manner of documenting an articles sources and providing tangential information, and should not be confused with the general concept of footnotes. I had a plan worked out in my head for what i was going to say, but then i clicked over to the blog and found that dylan already expressed all my views on this subject. Infinite jest infinite jest month with lauren and roxana. Poor yoricks summer infinite jest, pages 6495 our second section of reading gets into some meaty bits, including james incandenzas extensive filmography, kate gomperts depression, some beautiful thoughts on tennis from gerhardt schtitt, the introduction of remy marathe and hugh steeply, and endnote 304 which features background on the afr.
On page 403 historic and now hideously befouled ticonderoga, ny not nny, notice is mentioned as being located at the nearrightangle of the. That was tough, as footnote 304 was all about one of hals classmates and how he was researching a paper for class on the wheelchair assassins and the. Since the introduction of infinite jest the film ive been curious to find out what makes j incandenzas cartridge so lethally entertaining. Heres the first one, a series of questionsobservations from the first 100orso pages. Aug 31, 2010 so, in footnote 304 ten thousand words or so ostensibly devoted to a history of les assassins des fauteuils rollents we get a beautifully and truly prophetic account of online plagiarism, a topic of occasional interest here at tp. Some readers have found it useful to rip the book in half for easier reading on the subway or on the beach. If you do this, you also need to tear the footnotes from the back half and tape them to front half. The lengthy and complex work takes place in a semiparodic future version of north america, and touches on tennis, substance addiction and recovery programs, depression, child abuse, family relationships, advertising and popular entertainment, film theory, and quebec separatism, among other topics wallace was 33 when. So, after some mostly internal debate, i think this is the way im going to go about posting these infinite jest month discussion thingies. Distanced from the hype and shock that accompanied its appearance and no longer experiencing a rush of heady emotion in. To be fair, the essay, penned on the topic of and shortly after 911, was by wallaces own admission written very fast and in what probably. An endnote is the same as a footnote in that it gives a credit or additional information to the reader.
Page 93 states that rome, nny new new york, glens falls, nny, and beverly, ma are. Finally, the mystery seems to be revealed in the interrogation of molly notkin, when she describes a scene featuring madame p that shattered whatever preconceived notions i had over what was recorded. As technology progresses, our knowledge of literature diminishes. Endnote 40 marks my first genuine irritation at wallaces pretentiousness real or perceived. Feb 01, 1996 admittedly, infinite jest is a tough book. Though i think theres a few more than two or maybe they are just substyles. Jul 01, 2009 contrary to eden, my own available reading time has recently increased, and i find myself 10 or 12 pages ahead of schedule, closing in on fridays target.
I find that incomprehensible, as footnote 304 is one of my favorite bits of the entire book its an infodump presented in the form of an anecdote about a student plagiarizing a. I find that incomprehensible, as footnote 304 is one of my favorite bits of the entire book its an infodump presented in the form of an anecdote about a student plagiarizing a term paper from. Ive already mentioned this elsewhere, but is anybody else in love with the idea of les assassins des fauteuils rollents pretty much quebecs most dreaded and rapacious antionan terrorist cell p. This refers to footnote 4 from justice stones majority opinion in united states v. Page 93 states that rome, nny new new york, glens falls, nny, and beverly, ma are all border metropolises. The only difference is that an endnote is found at the end of the work, instead of. Firstly, can we just acknowledge how fucking ridiculous it is that this book has. The shear size of the book commanded attention the kind of attention t. Beyond the ease with which one can lookup footnotes, consider the following. So, in footnote 304 ten thousand words or so ostensibly devoted to a history of les assassins des fauteuils rollents we get a beautifully and truly prophetic account of online plagiarism, a topic of occasional interest here at tp. This howto does not cover the formatting of citations within the footnotes section.
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