/lit/ - Literature

it's a dystopian text about entertainment and addiction with a host of interesting and fucked up characters

>>6132325
>Not reading the Recognitions

>>6132325
>What do you get out of reading IJ?

I guess that depends on what you put into it.

>no memes
>on 4chins
l m a o

>>6132325

All I can say is that you must try reading it. After 200 pages or so if you're not hooked you either didn't read it properly or you're retarded

>>6132408
I honestly preferred Infinite Jest to The Recognitions, but both are easily in my top 5. Infinite Jest is just more consistently enjoyable than almost any other book I've read. Gaddis says some fantastic stuff and is often hilarious, but its almost as often pure slog. That never happens to me when reading Wallace.

OP: You get enjoyment out of it, probably. That was more than enough for me.

>>6132325

some of the passages blew me away, maybe it was just the themes that it hit on, but I was well into it

got a bit lost with the convexity/concavity, and the characters coming and going.

But still, you basically live with the book for as long as it takes you to read that big sucker, hard to not get into it

>>6132586
>calls Harold Bloom a retard

>>6132722
>Infinite Jest is just more consistently enjoyable than almost any other book I've read. Gaddis says some fantastic stuff and is often hilarious, but its almost as often pure slog. That never happens to me when reading Wallace.

>I prefer Coca Cola to fine wine

Cool story, pleb. We all really care about your hilarious tastes.

>>6132736
He is a retard, and if you trust him as a critic you might as well be euthanized.

>>6132734
This, some passages hit really close to home. Overall I thought the book had a really homely feel to it growing up in North America.

i heavily identified with most of IJ having spent a long time in 12 step rooms as well as living in a sober home on top of all the stuff about depression

>>6132843
So this is why IJ is so popular, here. You guys relate to the characters, on account that you're all losers.

>>6132868
It must suck being so cool that the only character you can relate to is James Bond.

>>6132736

I bet Harold Bloom loved it but just pretended not to for his image.

>>6132782
*tips dapper headgear*

>>6133336

Harold Bloom is simply an old fart hanging in a room long after it was relevant.

>>6133336
Harold Bloom is the Fedora King of literature. The only people who respect him are wrong generation tippers such as yourself.

Hal's story was super comfy. Sort of like Dead Poets Society minus poetry and set in a tennis school.

Waiting for the weed dealer is true genius.

where did bloom even comment on IF?

>>6132325
Perspiration.

>>6133808
>Asked about novelist David Foster Wallace, who took his own life in 2008, but who has a new book out, “The Pale King: An Unfinished Novel,” put together from manuscript chapters and files found in his computer, Bloom says, “You know, I don’t want to be offensive. But ‘Infinite Jest’ [regarded by many as Wallace’s masterpiece] is just awful. It seems ridiculous to have to say it. He can’t think, he can’t write. There’s no discernible talent.”

>>6132868
>losers

>implying life can be won

>>6132751
>drinking wine
>ever
leave you fucking normie.

>>6133839

>NOT ENJOYING A NICE MERLO
>THINKING THIS IS R9K

>>6133832
you are winning every breath you take

>>6133808
He pretty much said he can't write and his ideas were shit

>>6133849
what r9k is from betas to alphas
we are from patricians to plebs

>>6133852
Thanks. :)

>>6133839
stop for a second and consider all the authors that drank and how far from "normalfags" they were

>>6132751
>wine

>

>>6133870
none of the good authors EVER drank wine you fucking melon, go back to your friend's cheese/wine party you dick.

Jazz and wine and a spliff.

Are you plebs even trying to live properly.

>>6133890

Hemingway drank wine

It's a great picture of the inisidious nature of depression and drug use and how the intertwine. It has a lot of, imo, clever moments and jokes, but they underpin a profoundly sad portrait of contemporary life. There's also exploration of themes regarding parental and peer pressure in terms of success and problems with self-esteem that even accomplished, driven people experience.

I say all of this and I'm only part way through the book though, maybe it gets really bad, but I doubt it.

>>6132722
Read J R

>>6133901
yeah and he's miserable. a pontificating douche.

>>6133860
actually its the other way around

>>6133892
Power electronics, a bottle of gasoline and bath salts.
Are you cowards even trying to die properly.

>>6133905
nope, only gets better.
>>6132325
it's like vonnegut meets lynch meets pychon meets tarantino. I know it's hard evaluating art cross mediums but it's probably my favorite work of art i've encountered.

>>6133892
>jazz
Not even once.

I've literally read 100 pages so take this with a grain of salt/starting point of discussion.

The prose is incredibly average, the characters seem fairly engaging from what I've read and it does that ability to hook you, but the actual writing adds very little to the book. I know footnotes are his style but stylistic they don't seem to add much compared to other great books from the canon.

I need to read more tho, so I'll bid you guys adieu and come back to see what others think.

>>6135476
>The prose is incredibly average

I feel like that hemmingway quote about 10 dollar words or whatever probably applies to this guy

>>6132345
/thread

>>6135476
>prose is average
find me 3 people with a better vernacular than DFW

>>6135512
>esoteric vernacular = good prose
wat

I have a question, op. Do people actually jump right into infinite jest without first doing background on dfw? I find infinite jest interesting mainly because I can imagine dfw narrating it. Without that aspect I'd probably consider it pretenscious and silly.

It's a sad story about sad people. DFW makes his points well in fiction. If you can hang onto the narrative thread and the backstories, seeing how they evolve will teach you a little about life, including:

Drug use
Psychological issues
Socialization
Love
And much much more!

The only thing I didn't like was that it gets a bit bogged down in the middle for like 100-150 pages, and the ONAN vs terrorists plot was a bit boring (though essential (there's a reason DFW never wrote political thrillers)).

OK fag lord . I want you to know that im hard reading infinite jest to conclusion. I think we can all agree, dfw has a way with English words. Bu . Jesus is this guy ever pretenscious. I suspect his fan base is mainly comfy tier (virgins) not that there's anything wrong with that.

Real talk: this guy is overrated.

>>6133849
>merlo

>>6135512
>vernacular = prose

this is why your writing is shit

>>6136433
>pretenscious
lel, but why would you think it's pretentious?

>>6136433
>>6136619
>real talk
Jesus dude, c'mon. And you don't know what 'pretenscious' means, do you?

Not that anon, but DFW's prose is almost him trying to like, merge slang and thoughts. And but so this makes its style, like, stand somewhere between dialogue and prose (although it is by definition prose)

I like DFW's prose because I like how he plays with different dialects, registers and vernaculars, and how intricately he constructs sentences. His preoccupation with grammar, syntax and semantics doesn't always result in the most musical prose, but it is fascinating nevertheless and he was clearly a master of the technical side of language. And he shows at various points later in his career - I'm thinking mainly of The Pale King here - that he was indeed capable of writing quality 'literary prose' when he chose to. I defy anyone to call the opening chapter of TPK badly written.