Feb 26, 2016 12 if you think infinite jest at 1,100odd pages is a long book, be advised that it started longer. The inverse is the boy he hardly knew that came upstairs and sat with geoffrey day to keep his black shape from coming back, and don gately being forced to id with others in order to keep. I had ordered the book from after hearing of david foster wallaces death. While hercules had the assistance of athena and hermes, gately has pat montesian.
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 come along in recent fiction, infinite jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives. Oct 18, 2016 infinite jest explores the idea that all humans are addicts and examines how the chosen drugs particularly entertainment of late 20th century americans eat them alive. Infinite jest in the age of addiction the millions. It has been categorized as an encyclopedic novel and made time magazines list of the 100 best. I was in france at the time, and when i got back to the u. Feb 01, 1996 infinite jest is a movie so entertaining and addictive, anyone who watches it loses all desire to do anything else. Don gately and the various figures that reside or at least attempt to live in ennet house are a clear reflection of wallaces own struggles with drug and alcohol addiction in a society saturated with temptation. Delving into issues of race, gender, addiction, disability, and beauty, the text covers such a breadth. Sep 10, 2016 its been a bit of a journey on this one. Infinite summer view topic the labors of don gately. Infinite winter read infinite jest with a few hundred of.
Hundreds of character introductions, but no characters i cared about except for gately at times. Infinite jest infinite jest audiobook, by david foster wallace. The last few months with you guys have been totally awesome, and ive loved the adventure of helping guide yall through the subterranean underbelly of the enfield tennis academy and out to the freezing sand of gatelys beach. I bought the audiobook but i also bought the kindle. Infinite jest does anybody want to talk about infinite. Jul 11, 2016 the final joke of infinite jest is that the book is intended to be almost as endless and mirthful as the addictions it depicts. A study of david foster wallaces infinite jest, as reference for hals bio. Instant downloads of all 1297 litchart pdfs including infinite jest. A brief note to readers new to infinite jest and a very. V occurs frequently, including once midparagraph from gately to erdedy during the fight with the canadians outside ennet house. In terms of pages spanned, there are two main plots that are on the whole fairly disjoint. Steven asin infinite jest is the perfect book for the kindle paperwhite. Infinite jest is the title of james incandenzas braindestroying cartridge, but said title only appears in endnote 24, his filmography. Litcharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in infinite jest, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Jul 01, 2006 infinite jest is both sad, depressed and funny and even 25 years after it was published in 1994 remains relevant to the modern age. Each of the characters occupies a distinct place in the fictional world. In a manner both reminiscent and imitative of thomas pynchons gravitys rainbow 1973, wallace traces the sometimes connected fortunes of two dozen or so addicted and obsessed souls variously involved with. The good news is that it is not a thousandpage paragraph or even a thousandpage story.
Instead of simply listening, he resorts to drugs and entertainment, dmz and his movie infinite jest, to communicate. Hal incandenza, who is narrating, is in the admissions office of the university of arizona along with his uncle charles. I don t remember characters names in any books that i read. Infinite jest is centrally the tale of the incandenza family and don gately and the other characters, he says. Oct 27, 2014 infinite jests return to reality by john smilges. Infinite jest is a 1996 novel by american writer david foster wallace. To miss the desperate worshipping hidden beneath the strange, erudite, bellydeep joy of infinite jest is to fall prey to its pleasure. Wow dont know how im suppose to feel after that but i liked it.
Infinite jest does anybody want to talk about infinite jest. Favourite joke in infinite jest im reading infinite jest for the first time and ive come across a joke thats made me laugh out loud for about 5 minutes. I think what you say about infinite summer is quite interesting. But i loved the main characters and their arcs square headed addict don gately on the road to recovery, and the failed coming of age of. The ease of access to satisfaction in the digital age, from smart phone to. I normally dont enjoy overly complicated, tedious listens, and infinite jest seems overly complicated and tedious in the beginning, but once you get into the audiobook, its not. The infinite jest community note includes chapterbychapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and quizzes written by community members like you. Btw, one thread thats building near the end of the book that you don t mention involves law enforcement. Set in an addicts halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwedup family to come along in recent fiction, infinite jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to. I kind of strongly disagree with alexs post about the endnotes. The novel is widely noted for its unconventional narrative structure and its experimental use of endnotes there are a total of 388 endnotes, some with footnotes of their own. Page 407 of the 20th anniversary edition, its in the news headlines that are apart of marios puppet film for interdependence day at the tennis academy. David foster wallace infinite jest 1996 year of glad audiobook excerpt.
Infinite jest is the title of james incandenzas braindestroying cartridge. An ambitious and frequently brilliant fictional exploration of the pursuit of pleasure and its ramifying consequences, by the antic author of girl with curious hair 1989, etc. I cant recommend the purchase of the what at first appears to be the amazing ive heard good things about the audio, excellent vocal performance audio book of infinite jest. The abundance of or excess of guides and commentaries on the novel can perhaps have the adverse and unintentional consequence of making readers new to infinite jest believe that they cant get it without help. Individuals, organizations and governments vie to obtain the master copy, and recovering addicts get caught up in increasingly desperate attempts to control it. I have not eliminated infinite jests map, but i have walked its length. He is seated across from the dean of admissions, the dean of academic affairs, the dean of athletic. The chief counsellor at the halfway house, and one of the novels main protagonists, is don gately. Nov 27, 2017 i kind of strongly disagree with alexs post about the endnotes. Central to this narrative is one don gately, a recovering burglar and. Apr 09, 2009 i began reading infinite jest by david foster wallace around october 2008. Infinite jest is difficult to summarize, not only because of its length but also because fundamental questions about narrative theory must be addressed in order to do so. Gately, having relived his bottom, begins to recover from his infection. But i loved the main characters and their arcs square headed addict don gately on the road to recovery, and the failed coming of age of dictionary swallowing, borderline autistic, tennis whiz hal incandenza.
In infinite jest, the characters actions are so bizarre that you cant forget where you left off. A gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in america. The plot of infinite jest takes place in a somewhatmoredystopian future uni. I just come in here to make fun of anyone misguided enough to think this book deserves any thought or recognition whatsoever. I would like to suggest we use the book elegant complexity. I received an email earlier today from a reader who had excitedly received their unabridged audio book. Namely, the ada who has staked out gately s hospital room, and the middlesex county sheriffs car seen in front of ennet house in joelles very last scene in the book. She is also a recovering addict at the nearby ennet house, run by a former addictcumcounselor named don gately. Set in an addicts halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwedup family to come along in recent fiction, infinite jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives. To the extent that wallace is distinct from his narrator, or that the entire cycle hinges on his creation of characters, he retains some prior authority. A study of david foster wallaces infinite jest, as reference.
In fact, its take on the very nature of entertainment itself perhaps foresaw the age of vanity and social media, as seen through the prisms of tinder, facebook, twitter and instagram. Infinite jests characters are authors of this realm of the novel. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on litcharts. During the scene in which don gately receives his gunshot, two men. I just finished infinite jest, and i have questions. Featured software all software latest this just in old school emulation msdos games historical software classic pc games software library. The oldest brother is orin a pro footballer and lothario who was involved with joelle van dyne the female protagonist, of sorts, who is a radio show hostess, and star of the film infinite jest. Beyond the ease with which one can lookup footnotes, consider the following. Teach your students to analyze literature like litcharts does. It would be better to quote the actually text of infinite jest for hals mini bio then follow some complex and unproven theory. In a manner both reminiscent and imitative of thomas pynchons gravitys rainbow 1973, wallace traces the sometimes connected fortunes of two dozen or so addicted and obsessed souls variously. At the macro level, infinite jest consists of numerous anticonfluential wallaces word episodes set a dozen years or so in the future as was the broom, at a time when numerical designations for years have been sold to corporate sponsors. Heres how i finally read infinite jest and how you can, too. I was going to wait on it, but not that even infinite summer is talking about the end.
Infinite jest audiobook david foster wallace audible. After twenty years, david foster wallaces grand overture on humans and addiction, infinite jest, has only become more powerful. Why i cannot recommend the infinite jest audio book. Wallace wrote to a friend that the fuckers cut by 600 pages from the first version. However, a major ingredient of the infinite jest experience is that you dont know anything about what is going on in advance vide infrayes, get used to little. Formed in the summer of 2009 to read david foster wallaces masterwork infinite jest. 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 come along in recent fiction, infinite jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it. Written by david foster wallace, audiobook narrated by sean pratt. Wallace, or his narrator, only of the translation of those authors work into language. David foster wallaces infinite jest is an audiobook, minus. These are the endnotes to david foster wallaces infinite jest, a gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in america. I guess this is a first for me and ill get straight to the point. Since its publication, the world has moved past the events and years of the novels shaky mid2000s dystopian world. Infinite jest explores the idea that all humans are addicts and examines how the chosen drugs particularly entertainment of late 20th century americans eat them alive.
But the most addictive force in infinite jest is a seemingly innocuous videotape referred to simply as the entertainment. I bought the audiobook but i also bought the kindle version to help with the. When people are chugging through their first, second, or dare i say third readings of david foster wallaces infinite jest, it is not likely that they are experiencing any jest at all. If youve never read it, starting infinite jest can be a little intimidating. Oct 08, 2012 david foster wallace infinite jest 1996 year of glad audiobook excerpt. Reading david foster wallaces latest novel, infinite jest, i couldnt. David foster wallace, infinite jest, the year of glad favorite book quotes, favorite. I began reading infinite jest by david foster wallace around october 2008.
I normally don t enjoy overly complicated, tedious listens, and infinite jest seems overly complicated and tedious in the beginning, but once you get into the audiobook, its not. For all the possible directions a last post about infinite jest could take, ive decided to look ahead to what comes next. I see characters as figures on a spreadsheet, like a, b, c, and so on. I dont remember characters names in any books that i read. There are 28 unnumbered chapter breaks signified by a little circle, similar to 28 days in a lunar continue reading matt bucher. I dont listen to audiobooks more than once, but this one is the exception. Infinite jest as infinite jest a supposedly fun blog. Infinite jest by david foster wallace hachette book group. I cant recommend the purchase of the what at first appears to be the amazing ive heard good things about the audio. Apr 12, 2012 why i cannot recommend the infinite jest audio book infinite jest i guess this is a first for me and ill get straight to the point. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Not too many people write thousandpagers, much less read them. For instance, we have the roughandtumble hero in don gately, the lowerclass scrappy boy with a scholarship michael pemulis, and the. Infinite jest is both sad, depressed and funny and even 25 years after it was published in 1994 remains relevant to the modern age.
902 384 540 523 523 1039 1176 1317 96 1215 541 284 568 121 1339 194 1238 437 847 673 74 36 70 377 763 830 334 629 357