/lit/ - Literature

>>12163405
You are weak.

>>12163405
You can do it anon. I believe in you :)

>>12163405
>footnote 24
Is that the filmography? Because you definitely need to read that

>>12163480
It is, and OP definitely needs to read it. It's a closet biography of a major character, a sort of Moby Dick whale catalogue update and also just a pile of jokes.

Hugh G. Rection

IJ, Footnote 216.

>>12163405
Is DFW actually that good? Like, good enough to go down as part of western canon and be obligatory reading in 50 years.
I've seen a lot of people disparage him, but it's not clear whether it's his work or just his life/person they actually have an issue with.

>>12163405
i skipped footnote 24
do i need to re-read the whole thing?
nah
its just there to make it more immersive

>>12163405
Reading aloud takes longer than reading in the head

Audible pdf of IJ Notes and Errata: http://download.audible.com/product_related_docs/BK_HACH_000854.pdf

>>12163562
Everyone here has an issue with him because not enough years have passed for him to be considered a classic by the literary circles

>>12163603
Do you think he will?
I've read very little contemporary lit, and aside from Pynchon, I wonder who will be remembered from our time.
Though probably no one can really know, which is why I don't read much contemporary. Not that I doubt there's good work, but it's harder to find the true gems.

>>12163562
His prose is dreadfully bad, and shit he writes is the epitome of pretentious college-kid attempt at deep without having anything of value to add.

>>12163640
this, there are some fun parts in the book but his prose is awful and every single character is the same cookie cutter pretentious autist with the same backstory with mild differences

>>12163405
Dont give up *1 anon *2. Upon discovering DFW *3 while I was at university *4 I wanted to impress people and started reading Infinite Jest around the campus*5. Many women would walk past and slow to see the title of this magnificent work, obviously understanding its great importance*6 and my lofty intelligence*7. I would take it into lectures before they began and continue reading as others entered and took their seats*8, only putting it down when the lecturer began*9. Then real study for upcoming exams got in the way and I started skipping footnotes*10. Soon I was becoming confused, afraid i'd get called out *11 by passersby*12. Prior to completion I had to return it to the library*13. Never did I complete it and left University after that semester*14. I've had regrets *15 about my failure to finish Infinite Jest ever since.

*1. Continue reading Infinite Jest.
*2. Anonymous user of 4channel imageboard /lit/ - Literature.
*3. Infinite Jest author David Foster Wallace.
*4. Considered among the top 100 Universities in the world. Infinite Jest was on the Third floor of the library+. I remember seeing the book and thinking it was so large++ it probably hadnt been touched in years +++. I took note of the title which naturally I found humorous. Upon searching it online I discovered that Infinite Jest is considered a modern++++ American classic. Naturally I borrowed it out and began reading it that evening.+++++
+813/.54 20
++1079 pages
+++In fact the return stamp indicated it had been borrowed earlier that year.
++++Published 1st February 1996.
+++++It was a chilly evening in early Autumn+*.
+*North Americans refer to Autumn as Fall++*.
++*South Americans typically use the Spanish word Otoño, which translates to Autumn.
*5. It is a large campus and features many public spaces, outdoor and indoor where one could be seen reading.
*6. By 2016 Infinite Jest had sold over 1 million copies and has been included in Time Magazines list of 100 best English-language novels published between 1923 and 2005.
*7. IQ of 115
*8. Students are often notoriously late.
*9. I was doing 4 papers that semester and had 4 corresponding lecturers.
*10. Skipping footnotes essentially invalidates the work. Read all the footnotes.
*11. To be "called out" is modern parlance for a verbal confrontation. As an intellectual and social coward this caused me concern and anxiety.
*12. As one of the worlds preeminent Universities many of the students had read Infinite Jest. It would be reasonable to consider it a milestone of Campus life.
*13. Beyond the original 2 week return I'd already extended twice and thus had no option but to return it, only eligible+ to borrow it again after another 2 week return period.
+Only current students and faculty staff were eligible to borrow books as it is a University library.
*14. Incomplete BSc Biology.
*15. a feeling of sadness, repentance, or disappointment over an occurrence or something that one has done or failed to do.

>>12163405
The only fiction book with footnotes you need to read is House of Leaves, prove me wrong.

>>12163405
>>12163552
>>12163578
>>12163673
>>12163704
>footnotes

>>12163673
I love these kinds of things, can someone post screencaps of more posts like this?

>>12163562
i like him. reminds me a lot of john williams if he were funny

Dude stop fucking reading if you don't like it. The filmography was a literal laundry list of jokes and should have been a goddamn riot to read through. If it didn't motivate you to read more stop reading.

Not everyone has to like books

>>12163828
Not OP but I simply dislike how every IJ character has to be this hyperweird dysfunctional crazyperson plagued by a horde of personal demons. It feels tryhard and bloated. It reminds me of Twin Peaks's log lady. There's no rhyme or reason to her, other than the fact that screenwriters thought having a lady with a log would be top zany. Every IJ character is like that, a log lady.

>>12163803
Amazing

>>12163405
is the audible audiobook a viable option? how are the footnotes incorporated?

>>12163803
I want this to have happened.

>>12163960
The footnotes are not included in the audiobook version. When one comes up in the text a voice different to the narrator says the number and you're supposed to pause the audio to consult and read the footnote yourself. Which you can see here: >>12163600

In my opinion it is a book that is definitely meant to be read, rather than listened too. I'm not sure I would be able to get through the audioversion because when I read it I was always flicking back and forth, rereading sections etc. But I have listened to the audiobook since reading the book and I enjoyed it.

>>12163673
this is such a good post

>>12164053
Dear Anon,

thank you for this enlightening answer.
I will follow your wise example.

Sincerely,

Anon

I just finished this last night, what's the general take-away around here? I'm Too Late to get here to know what the old threads had goin on.

>>12164208
Infinite Jest is a meme.

>>12163673
nice work anon

>>12164212
Is it a good meme though?

>>12163710
>can someone post screencaps of more posts like this?
That post*1 is fresh*2 pasta*3 however it requires editing*4 to be truly befitting of DFW*5.

*1. The 15th reply of the thread+
+A thread is a series of posts on 4channel.org and similar forums.
*2. In this context "fresh" refers to an original post.
*3. Pasta refers to the 4chan tradition of reposting original posts considered worthy+ of being shared again.
+In order to be considered worthy of being saved for future reposts an original post must be deemed humorous and/or informative to its intended audience.
*4. Correction of grammatical errors.
*5. David Foster Wallace, an influential+ American writer and university instructor in the disciplines of English and creative writing.
+David Ulin of The Los Angeles Times called Wallace "one of the most influential and innovative writers of the last twenty years".

>>12164085
>Offering*1 a compliment*2 in an Infinite Jest*3 thread*4 without including footnotes*5.

*1. The action of giving.
*2. Kind words intended to convey appreciation.
*3. A novel widely noted in literary circles for its unconventional narrative structure and its experimental use of footnotes.
*4. A thread is a series of posts on 4channel.org and similar forums.
*5. An additional piece of information printed at the bottom of a page; a technique extensively used by DFW in his magnum opus Infinite Jest.

>tfw finally understand the book as the Gnostic metaphor it truly is

Infinite Jest, aka The Universal Joke, a deeply Thelemic idea rooted in the title. DFW, like most other fiction writers, seems to delve into occult philosophies to add depth to his creations.
Hal is rooted in a purgatorial state where he consumes massive amounts of media, ever-recurring, adding no real value to his experience... until he takes the drug... an enlightenment, or a sip from the Lethe? I can't tell at this point. I need to keep thinking on it.

>>12164436
The Magnum Opus which turns shit tons of media consuming into something genuine and beautiful?

>>12164363
Determining wether a meme is good or bad is the subjective imperative of the consumer to the meme.
Did you enjoy Infinite Jest?

>>12164511
I haven't read it (don't read contemporary lit), that's why I'm asking. I'll read it someday, but I might bump it up or down my "to read" list depending on what other people tell me about it.

>>12163562
He's extremely good, but he's not for everyone. The people who don't like him think he's just a meme, but they just aren't his audience

why does it need footnotes

>>12164680
it's really fucking good imho. The first 300-400 pages are pretty wild and won't make much sense but things start coming together after that and it's truly phenomenal.

I would read this book if pic related was the real cover.

>>12164923
my rule of thumb is if a book doesn't hook me after 55 pages, the author can take a big chunky gulp out of my big funky junk.

>>12164915
>He's extremely good
Post a single paragraph of IJ that you consider to be "extremely good"

>>12165094
>it's complete shite, if it sucks till fiddy-five
>50 to build a world, 5 to make me go awww, if the author needs mo', he can pick a straw, cuz he sucks balls
>if the exposition needs more than 55 pages, the whole read will take ages, fuck that shit, I'm done with it

>>12165109
>a book that catches me at page 56, can suck a bag of dicks
>the first 55 pages of your book is just an ad for the rest? then not reading the rest would be best.

>>12165109
I'd say this guy is being generous with 55 pages. I usually lose my patience with bad prose and meandering narrative by page 10. Life's too short to waste it on something that dares to bore me for even one bit.

>>12163603
>Everyone here has an issue with him
When did /lit/ as a whole stop loving DFW? Some still do, but I saw a poll from 2013 and he was voted /lit/'s favourite author ever on that one.

Which one is your favorite JOI movie lads?
Mine is Cage 3

>>12165357
Chart here. Actually early 2014 and Infinite Jest was voted the top, not DFW himself - though there may be another one that matches what I said first.
Whatever the state of /lit/ now is, I'm pretty sure no longer thing Infinite Jest is the best book is a change for the better.

>>12165345
>spends the following 45 minutes picking his nose and scratching his nuts

>>12163405
https://youtu.be/S5ccWLJDV4o
qts don’t like the footnotes

>>12165357
>>12165380
Infinite Jest is to /lit/ as ITAOTS is to /mu/ and NGE is to /a/, people constantly shit on them and they're huge memes but they're still overall liked by the board. Their creators are also all unique and extremely memeable personalities, which is made even more important by the fact that all three of the works are very personal. They all have their own quirks that lend themselves well to memes (Mangum's voice, the endnotes and the abstract bits of NGE) and so do their creators (wanting to fuck Anne Frank, being severely autistic and hating otaku, being severely autistic and desperately wanting to seem smart, also the bandana and the interview) They are all very polarising with tons of people who love and hate them, and are all 2deep4u. They are all 90s but this is not a requirement. They are still definitely all worth reading/listening to/watching even if only to see where your stance is.
If I had to pick one work that's closest to being /lit/'s meme work, it would be IJ, but I'd actually say the entire meme trilogy is a better fit, because as well as what I just said, Joyce and Pynchon are also very memeable (farts and reclusiveness) and so are Ulysses and Gravity's Rainbow specifically (all the references, 'the stink of shit floods his nose' etc.), they are also definitely 2deep4u.

>>12165634
>Infinite Jest is to /lit/ as ITAOTS is to /mu/ and NGE is to /a/
Thanks, the ITAOTS comparison makes a lot of sense in particular.

>>12163562
People like to make fun of him but he’s good, maybe the best of that past 25 years

>>12165634
>memeable personalities
this is the most accurate word

>>12163673
*SNAP*

>>12165634
Though you know the IJ of music is not ITAOTS but rather something slightly below Stockhausen's Licht but not too far below...

We need more Infinite Jest memes they are hilarious.

Anyone read this?

>>12168521
Yes, it's not bad, it is more of the same we'd expect from DFW, however, I feel it's more depressing since it deals with IRS agents. Also you know, he did kill himself while working on this book.

>>12165099
Then he had a seizure. The floor of the subway car became the ceiling of the subway car and he was on his arched
back in a waterfall of light, gagging on Old Spice and watching his tumid limbs tear-ass around the car's interior like undone
balloons. The booming Zuckung Zuckung Zuckung was his high heels' heels drumming on the soiled floor's tile. He heard a
rushing train-roar that was no train on earth and felt a vascular roaring rushing that until the pain hit seemed like the gathering of a
kind of orgasm of the head. His head inflated hugely and creaked as it stretched, inflating. Then the pain (seizures hurt, is what
few civilians have occasion to know) was the sharp end of a hammer. There was a squeak and rush of release inside his skull and
something shot from him into the air. He saw Bobby ('C') C's blood misting upward in the hot wind of the Copley blower. His
father knelt beside him on the ceiling in a well-rended sleeveless tee-, extolling the Red Sox of Rice and Lynn. Tony wore
summer taffeta. His body flopped around without OK from HQ. He didn't feel one bit like a puppet. He thought of gaffed fish.
The gown had 'a thousand flounces and a saucy bodice of lace crochet.' Then he saw his father, green-gowned and rubber-gloved,
leaning to read the headlines off the skin of a fish a newspaper had wrapped. That had never happened. The largest-print headline
said PUSH. Poor Tony flopped and gasped and pushed down inside and the utter red of the blood that feeds sight bloomed behind
his fluttering lids. Time wasn't passing so much as kneeling beside him in a torn tee-shirt disclosing the rodent-nosed tits of a man
who disdains the care of his once-comely bod. Poor Tony convulsed and drummed and gasped and fluttered, a fountain of light all
around him. He felt a piece of nourishing and possibly even intoxicating meat in the back of his throat but elected not to swallow
it but swallowed it anyway, and was immediately sorry he did; and when his father's bloody-rubbered fingers folded his teeth back
to retrieve the tongue he'd swallowed he refused absolutely to bite down ungratefully on the hand that was taking his food, then
without authorization he pushed and bit down and took the gloved fingers clean off, so there was rubber-wrapped meat in his
mouth again and his father's head exploded into needled antennae of color like an exploding star between his gown's raised green
arms and a call for Zuckung while Tony's heels drummed and struggled against the widening stirrups of light they were hoisted
into while a curtain of red was drawn wetly up over the floor he stared down at, Tony, and he heard someone yelling for someone
to Give In, Err, with a hand on his lace belly as he bore down to PUSH and he saw the legs in the stirrups they held would keep
spreading until they cracked him open and all the way inside-out on the ceiling and his last worry was that red-handed Poppa
could see up his dress, what was hidden.

>>12168958
Great choice anon. This passage stuck with me too. When he swallows his tongue and then bites the guys fingers off eeek

>>12165099
>>12168958

Any DFW haters want to comment?