/lit/ - Literature

>>6685841

listen up man o' war
dis ain't no old work
this some advanced work
ya dig

>>6685841
Already readed my 10 pages for today.
I though it was 10 only, is it 15 now?

>>6685841
waste of fucking summer m8 tbh

>>6685865
>Already readed my 10 pages for today.
>I though it was 10 only, is it 15 now?
Read the schedule.

>>6685881
I haven't visited the last threads, i was only here for the original one when the suggestion was made for 10 pages.
But ok whatever.
>>6685868
If it's infinite you have plenity of time to waste anyway

>>6685841
>>>/reddit/

GTFO

Reposting..

http://strawpoll.me/4625366

Rereaders please vote.
Minor spoilers for first timers.

I'm taking the CPA instead of reading this :(

shit, I thought this started on the first day of summer. I haven't even picked up my copy yet.

>>6686166
Get a digital copy and read on your computer while you wait for the book.

He killed himself

>>6686097
Where's the Joelle love at? P.G.O.A.T. is easily my second favorite because of Madame Psychosis.

>>6686225
because we only got to pick our favorites, not second favorites

Might join you guys

>tfw the foreward brought up Sufjan Steven's 50 states project
oh well...

Is it just me or is this horribly written?
Is stream of consciousness the worst writing form?

>>6686415
The opening? Well, DFW really isn't lauded for his prose, but I think it works for what it is. I like the fractured conversation you overhear from Hal's perspective. It captures his anxiety and delirium well, not to mention Hal's stream of consciousness is unique in being that of a kid who memorizes dictionaries.

ey fellers lets talk some infinite jest shall we? f'd up that Hal ate mold as a child, right?

>>6686415
It's pretty bad, yeah.

DFW is best when you don't stop and think about the technique or talent that went into it. Like, his essays are good when you don't expect anything wowing or any interesting thoughts from him. Just turn your brain off, and you'll enjoy it.

Well guys, it's about time for me to dive into this meme. By the end of this summer I will be a master of the /lit/ meme trifecta.

>>6686441

>DFW is best when you don't stop and think about the technique or talent that went into it.

DFW has no technique or talent to begin with.

>>6686450
By the end of summer you'll have only just begun.

>>6686451
Discernible talent, that is.

>>6686461
any talent

>>6686415
it's just you, gaylord

>>6686491
Are you kidding me? DFW can't think, he can't write... he has no discernible talent. Even Steven King said "John Green is James Joyce compared with David Foster Wallace."

But so and am I like being b8'd on the whole "no talent" thing I'm seeing in some of these posts? Or are y'all idiots?

>>6686438
It happens. He's fine now, so no worry.

Just hit page 200
Where's everyone else at?

>>6686097
you fags all wish you were pemulis, don't you? i do

>>6686531
Started reading yesterday, and I'm around page 40. It's alright so far.

>>6686594
I'd say it gets rolling around there, page ~40/50 or so. I think the opening is a little weak for sure. Neither the phone call from Orin nor the story with Roy Tony have any reason to come that early in the narrative and in my opinion the professional conversationalist is one of the weakest segments in the whole book.

The very opening, the Medical attaché's story, Erdedy, and Orin's apartment are all pretty great though.

Any online versions of the book out there?

>>6686631
http://nkelber.com/engl295/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/David-Foster-Wallace-Infinite-Jest-v2.0.pdf

Well, this is going as expected.
Any actual thoughts on the first chapter or you guys just going to meme until the bump limit?

This is my tenth time starting IJ and I remember how hard I laughed the first time I read the end of the first chapter. DFW said that he meant IJ to be a very sad and tragic book but found it surprising that people who read and liked the book liked it because it was so funny.

Also, why does Hal consider Dennis Gabor to be the Antichrist?

>>6686642

he probably thinks Gabor is the Antichrist because he paved the way for light projection and therefore movies and tv. hal has a weird relationship with movies and tv in that he appreciates them as forms of escape but they distract him from being a better tennis player. also, they remind him of his dad and shit

>>6686635
Thanks, broski. Will open it up when I wake up

>>6686528
Was it meant to be the cause of that seizure he had at the start/end?

>>6686808
nah i think hes just fucking mental

I ate this
my son ate this

>>6686808
the endnote about DMZ mentions that it comes from mold that grows on mold. Remember Hal becomes like a weird autist child and it causes JOI great distress...

So Hal is basically a pot-machine?

>>6686500
When/where did he say that?

Just finished the first chapter.... WTF happened?

This nigga had a seizure because he had to talk? Was it the mold? DID THE MOLD KILL HAL?!?!?!?!

ANYWAY I'M OFF TO TOKE UP AND READ SOME MORE DUDEZ

ILL CATCH YOU L8RZ H8RZ

>>6686808
>>6687217
This guy has given a hint >>6686984 but questions about the opening chapter will all lead to spoilers since the opener happens chronologically last (though it is not the farthest forward look in the narrative universe timeline).

The element of the opener that can be safely examined, and that no one ever mentions with the horror that it deserves, is that Hal is locked in his head, perfectly observant and conversant, but trapped in his perceptions.

Like the Metallica WWI machine gun song guy. Is Hal being trapped in his brain worse than being trapped in one's body?

>>6687629
Opening chapter theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HjPxHToVko

>>6687629
I wonder if that's a metacommentary on fate/free will with narrative, like Hal's seeing himself as a character in a novel or is self-aware enough to realize he's just been controlled by all the crazy shit going on around him for so long (the plot)

I haven't read this in a couple years and this group read is too tempting

>>6687701
Reducing being human to what it is like to be Hal in the opener is certainly the kind of hat-rabbit reductio absurdum gag Wallace could so often fail to resist.

There is an even more interesting "what is this POMO agenda that seems to be going on here in Year Of Glad" line of examination, but again because of this starting-at-the-end device, it will have to wait until later.

If you know who Gately is "communicating" with while in the hospital, then: Re-eval Hal's behavior regarding the q, what if Hal had a Gately type conversation, but while fully awake and with the full contextual realization of all that would entail?

The most confounding part of Glad, is that Hal, while totally isolated, completely trapped, caged, and imprisoned, comes across as also lacking utterly in concern, fear, or anxiety about it. Instead of panicked dread and horrified frustration at being unable to ever again communicate, he contemplates espadrilles and bathroom etiquette.

I never believe in authorial fiat. Wallace did not just hang fictive ornaments on a narrative tree. There must be a reason Hal is so blase about his predicament.

There's a lot of things I pick up on in this first chapter. Unfortunately, it all relates to later sections.

The Moms reaction to Hal's "I ate this" really stuck out to me. She goes running around the neighborhood yelling like a child instead of getting on the phone? That's absurd. And Hal is just left to wonder behind her. Avril is a narcissist. She doesn't see her kids as individuals, but just extensions of herself.

>>6687739
>She goes running around the neighborhood yelling like a child instead of getting on the phone? That's absurd.


Well, she is a woman.

what the fuck, I thought Infinite Summer used this schedule. Why do you guys always have to be special snowflakes

http://infinitesummer.org/archives/168

>>6687739
>running around the neighborhood yelling like a child

I have seen a North American mother act exactly like this when she thought her toddler had been abducted (found in the neighbor's bacakyard sandbox, having a blast). /k/'s soccer mom threads are full of greentexts on this, many of which ring completely true to me.

>>6687739
"my son ate this!"

She even had to include herself when announcing it

>>6687775
You know you'll be here every day

just finished year of glad
so did the administrators only hear his words as inhuman noises?
nothing of Hal's diatribe is heard?
that seizure scene and then trip to the hospital was really well done

>rereading
>mfw that BLATANT reference in first few pages to Gately digging up Infinite Jest

>>6687963
Yes. I thought it was quite funny, especially after hearing from his side what the eloquent speech was supposed to be

>>6687739
>avril is a narcissist
I don't know, moreso she's just in a panic. She clearly cares about the boys throughout the rest of the novel

I wasn't going to do this but fuck it re-reading chapter 1 now.

Just finished.

I found it to be angsty and like he has been writing for the sake of writing.

>>6688322
>I found it to be angsty
man its almost like this was some sort of modern retelling of Hamlet or something lol!!!

Is Hal autistic?

I didn't realize this was some fucking sci fi shit, bye genrefags

>>6688322
Hal is supposed to be an insufferable faggot.
>>6688335
Sort of

What happened to John Wayne? Why didn't he win whataburger if he's still alive and presumably sane with Hal and Gately? Also tfw the jet flying north is the only indicator of the true trajectory of events really throughout the entire book, isn't it?

>>6688371
please elaborate on the jet

also John Wayne gets demapped by the AFR

I don't think Hal was insufferable or meant to be insufferable tho

>>6688226
Same

>>6688400
The jet is the harbinger of a war with Canada by the Gentle administration over the concavity and potentially the entertainment
>I don't think Hal was insufferable or meant to be insufferable tho
>"I do things like get in a taxi and say 'to the library, and step on it'
>That dinner scene with Joelle
>JOI's disappointment and attempts at fosturing human conversation

>>6688517
He was trying to kiss ass there. In his day to day he's a pretty inoffensive meek guy.

Interesting theory about the war, but pretty unsupported.

>>6685841
Oh shit guys, here we go

Just downloaded and this will be my first book read in about 4 months or so

I'm so excited :)

how do you guys reconcile the wraith?to me, putting that at the end of a book full of so much sadness and detah kind of trivializes everything.at the same time, I've sort of learned to separate elements of literature and take some things more literally than others.taken by themselves, I did actually enjoy the wraith segments quit a lot. especially the spooky shit going on at eta.it just feels like a declaration of life after death in a book of so much doubt seems to cheapen it all.and yes, I know dfw was a crhistian. but I doubt that really factors in. I don't know many christians who truly believe in ghosts in the pop culture sensei guess it also tops off the hamlet thing it has going

(sorry if i just spoiled something for anyone, i don't know what was goin on with the spoiler tags there..)

how do you guys reconcile the wraith? to me, putting that at the end of a book full of so much sadness and death kind of trivializes everything.at the same time, I've sort of learned to separate elements of literature and take some things more literally than others.taken by themselves, I did actually enjoy the wraith segments quit a lot. especially the spooky shit going on at eta. it just feels like a declaration of life after death in a book of so much doubt seems to cheapen it all.and yes, I know dfw was a Christian. but I doubt that really factors in. I don't know many christians who truly believe in ghosts in the pop culture sense. I guess it also tops off the hamlet thing it has going

>>6688531
I'm pretty sure by the end of the book there are passing comments about Gentle and Canada having extremely strained relationships nevermind what we know about the concavity and groups such as the AFR. The plane is described as an "ultramach fighter" and is flying north. I also believe the MASH chapter and Eschaton provide foreshadowing.

>>6688517
>>6688595
>>6688371
>>6688400
GUISE!

Come on.

If we're going to do this this way, there should be separate "been there done that" and "please no spoilerz" threads.

>>6688595

/SPOILER/

/YOU"VE BEEN WARNED/

/NO YEAH REALLY DONT READ THIS IF YOU WANT TO HAVE THE EXPERIENCE UNSPOILED/


The wraith is, in all likelihood, the narrator. Of the whole text. Everything he says to Gately in the hospital can be seen as a POMO manifesto about how the structure of IJ was built, and why it reads the way it does. Endnotes, broken chronology, many POVs, wraith JOI explains the whole schtick. To Gately. Using telepathy.

>>6688682
What I'm talking about is barely if at all supported by the text and it's not like half of /lit/ hasn't had this or gravity's rainbow "spoiled" for then well before this project simply via browsing the board.

>>6688668
THANK YOU

/MORE SPOILERS/
/SCROLL PAST NOW/
/YOUVE BEEN WARNED AGAIN/


It has always been patently obvious from the moment that Wallace said, [para phrase] "There is a kind of trajectory that leads to certain conclusion off the right edge of the page. If you didn't get that then the book failed for you," that the war happened, and in all likelihood all the characters are dead. If wraith JOI is the single narrator, then the book is his apology for contributing to the end of the world.

>>6686438

Who are these testicle receptacles?

>>6688718
Dumb. Thematically uninvolved in the rest of the book. I don't think DFW intended for such a dramatic epilogue to a book essentially about dealing with banality.

Sure, maybe a war breaks out, but not everyone's dead.

>>6688761
She´s some starlet or something. What made this pic famous is that the guy is her kid and she gets very loving with him and her other son. In one of the pics you can even see the kid´s boner...

spoilerfags ruining everything

>>6688914
The first chapter is the end of the book so its tough to discuss it. In the view on the work as a whole the ultimate resolution of the plot is first of all probably not totally reconcilable and there is a lot more going on than the whacky tale of Hal's breakdown and the entertainment.

>>6688914
1. Don't click spoiler tags
2. The "spoilers" in this thread are mostly speculation
3. You cannot "spoil" this book in any traditional sense. If you could spoil a river by pointing out where it ends, Infinite Jest would be a lake. Sorry for the cheesy analogy but I think it communicates my point.

I like how he thinks about tennis even when in the hospital. Pure dedication.

I just read Brief Interviews with Hideous Men and thought it was absolutely terrible, should I still read Infinite Jest?

>>6686522
Basically every talented writer and reviewer alive thinks that DFW was a worthless hack. He's only really praised by hipsters and if it wasn't for his suicide he would be mostly forgotten.

what are your IJ soundtracks? (if you listen to music while you read)

nirvana/pixies here

>>6688595
While I agree with the other poster about the wraith as a postmodern narrator, the wraith is also necessary for the basic Hamlet plot structure

I wonder if the book started off with another character if Hal wouldn't be thought off as much as the main character as he is, I know he's the most obvious self-insert for DFW but I feel like if the book started with a deep focus on another character they might be viewed as more of the main character

Although thinking about it Hal is the central figure because all the plot strands circle around him and his immediate connections to the Entertainment, and having him positioned as Hamlet in the plot structure , but maybe I only think that way because the book orients me into the beginning

Also Ctrl + S to spoiler

>>6688055
>She clearly cares about the boys throughout the rest of the novel
I don't really think this. I think she is a classic narcissistic parent. And it shows in how one child complies so much as the other rebels, that's a common sign. Both the parents are self absorbed in different ways. Avril comes across as the perfect mother, but really she has very strict expectations of her children. The obsession with grammar shows her need to look perfect, and Hal's undying compliance to it makes me think she valued her children only if they lived up to her values. The implication that Avril molested Orin definitely shows that she sees her wants as more important than her kids'. And when has Hal ever felt like he can express his true self? We never even see it till the end when he starts narrating. Before then, he was always living as an extension of his mother.

The desire for motherly love is the point of Infinite Jest VI. And the ability of that desire to turn people into zombies. This also reminds me of the section where DFW considers what really counts as child abuse. Seemingly nice parents can be just as abusive when they make everything about themselves.

>>6689536
This book sure has a lot of ... 'implications', doesn't it?

>>6689145
he's nt the greatest thing ever but he wrote two very good novels... take john williams for example- i know people here on lit like to praise him... It's hard to objectively say that Stoner and Augustus are better masterpieces than IJ and Pale King... Now I'm not saying John Williams is bad and Im not saying Wallace is the greatest... But if you read those four books it would be tough to say that Foster is a talent less hack without dismissing authors like Williams as well

>>6689577
>It's hard to objectively say that Stoner and Augustus are better masterpieces than IJ and Pale King
I don't think that's hard to say at all.

well I suppose i can't call your opinion wrong... Stoner and Augustus are great novels, just annoys me when the contrarians try to say Wallace is for Hipsters, when in reality they are being contrarian 2nd level hipsters by saying hes a hack

>>6689569
Not sure exactly what you mean but it's pretty hard to write such a big literary novel without them

also a cheeky bit in the first chapter, one of Hal's great essays was on "The Emergence of Heroic Stasis in Broadcast Entertainment"

>>6689126
Nooope.

>>6687592
He didn't. It's a epic meme. Harold Bloom said Steven King was Cervantes compared with Wallace.

>>6689619
Name one great living author or reviewer that likes DFW. Opinions on him being a hack are pretty unanimous outside of hipsters and women.

>>6689674
name and cite a great living author who says he is a haack

>>6689703
Cormac McCarthy for an author.
Harold Bloom for a reviewer.

>>6689703
Pynchon

>>6689703
Me, ^those gals.

>>6685841
Anyone here have a pdf/epub copy of the readers guide? Would be great.

>>6689771
Yes.

>>6689737
>>6689748
>>6689765
citation plz

>>6689320
madame psychosis is the "central figure"

>>6689780
>>6689771
The wiki :

http://infinitejest.wallacewiki.com/david-foster-wallace/?title=Pages_3-27#Page_3

was quite helpful I found for the first chapter which I just finished a few minutes ago. Gotta say I was quite pleased. Pretty neat having the seizure take place from Hal's perspective... Pretty calm throughout while the deans are fretting. Kinda common for the people watching to be more freaked out than the victim in situations like this.

>>6688543
Hey /lit/ I'm back

So far I'm intrigued. my favorite part right now is that stoner. Shit was hilarious. Took a while to warm up to Hal. The Saudi shit was boring as fuck I barely got through it[\spoiler]

>>6686531
i'm on 312 and but been holding off for a couple of weeks since i heard about this, now waiting for everyone to catch up

>>6689536
>desire for motherly love is the point of Infinite Jest VI. And the ability of that desire to turn people into zombies.

TO CLOSE TO HOME ANON GO BACK

Also the thing about Hal's breakdown being a comment on how other people percieve us in general hmm that didn't occur to me before just with how bizarre the whole introductory chapter is and then the story shifts gears.

>>6686531
15

When does the first footnote happen? I was really sad when I found out that the first chapter doesn't even have foot/endnotes.

hey if Himself is supposed to be a stand-in for DFW why does it say he tried the whole rehab thing but he couldn't get into the cliches and higher power stuff?

seemed like he was saying Don's transformation is only possible in a certain type of person

>>6686531
20

>>6686531
17 because I am following the schedule

>>6690422
Himself wasn't a DFW stand-in. I wouldn't say anyone -really- is, but Hal comes closest.

>>6690422
DFW himself couldn't get into all that stuff either, despite how much he wanted to. He wanted to believe a lot more than he actually could get into it and thought of himself as a bad or failed Christian. According to his bio, he couldn't resist questioning things even when he really tried.

He couldn't into blind faith

>>6690737
This, although a lot of characters embody or at least start as reflections of one aspect of his personality

can a veteran jester tell me where the fuck these 'post ending' events happen?

obviously spoilers dont click if you havent read the book before

>>6690834
Do you mean where in terms of the novel (like pages)?

Because none of those things explicitly happen, they're just hinted at in the opening and a couple other places and built up to

>>6690841
I guess I don't get how all the characters band together like that at the end, especiall John Wayne and Gately, and then how we know Orin made a deal with the FLQ

>>6690847
I can answer one directly

We see Orin being tortured towards the end, saying he'll give something up but he's perfectly fine in the novel's opening, with the interviewers explicitly mentioning him being in the NFL

If I think a bit I might able to name the others, it's been a couple years since I've read it

>>6690847
"I think of John N.R. Wayne, who would have won this year's What-aBurger, standing watch in a mask as Donald Gately and I dig up my father's head" - 16/17

It plays on the reader's expectations of a novel and how it all must tie together in the end

I think this struggle and awkwardness is really well reflected in the interviewers questioning Hal about his current "incongruity" and most of their discussion is trying to understand why he is so incongruous with his record, reflecting the awkwardness of both having the end at the beginning but also not tying the plot together

While there's so much geometrical diction, the real focus of the opening is on incongruity, and they fail to understand it just as the reader does in the end?

None of these ideas are totally ironed out but there's definitely a lot of thematic importance to the talk of incongruity

>>6690875
hmm .. interesting points, but these everyday kids suddenly playing political thriller with the infinite jest master tape and orin giving it to a band of terrorists just doesn't fall in line with the rest of the book for me. I'd also point out that doesn't necessarily mean NR wayne died, he could just be on the run

well, one more thing, regarding the communication issues at the start, what's with all the crazy theories? Wraith putting DMZ on Hal's toothbrush, mold synthesizing with something etc. Didn't Hal intentionally take the DMZ with Peemster and Axe?>>6690856

>>6690898
I feel like there has to be a line confirming John Wayne dies but I can't find it or remember exactly where it is

I think that disconnect is the whole point of the novel, the reader only sees the characters when their plots aren't in motion

Hell even when the reader sees the terrorists, most of the time they're just having philosophical discussions

Infinite Jest and DFW gets compared to Pynchon all the time and that crazy plot feels very absurd and Pynchon-esque, but Wallace purposely avoids it, making the novel even more absurd in a strange way

I think it could also be read as a commentary on television, with Hal writing about "The Emergence of Heroic Stasis in Broadcast Entertainment" and the later monologues on Cheers and MASH focusing on their unchanging quality

Wallace wants to write something where nothing happens, but also everything happens, leading to the end of the world

And maybe the incongruity focus is just a way of Wallace giving himself a copout, acknowledging the awkwardness of his own book like he acknowledges the pretentiousness of the title Infinite Jest, yet still uses that as the novel's title

Why don't you rereaders make your own fucking thread for fucks sake.

>>6690938
Because some of the first timer comments help me figure new things out?

Also the beginning section is an extreme case in terms of reader understanding, later sections will be able to have much much more unified/general discussion but first timers really can't say much about the opening

Just a couple quick thinkgs I wanna clear up Ok why did Joelle kill herself? Why did James kill himself? why did it imply Hal was going to write himself off the map? I thought Hals phone calls with his brother was the funniest part of the book Did anyone else find the book really homely feeling? just all those little details he included made you feel like you were with Hal and Pemulis killed by wheelchair assassins at the end The football part was hilarious Microwave head explosion suicide James, Hals dad thoughtlessly sacrificed the banality of the whole thing. It was that shit he ate as a kid wasn't it? Hal tripping out never actually finished the book myself.

>mfw people could be making up stuff about IJ and no one would know
>mfw no one in this thread has actually read the book

>>6690981
Hey, guys, remember that part when Hal rapes the Moms and then kills Himself while Mario watches and masturbates.

Best part of the book, amirite? Haha, I didn't even know you could bend your knee in that direction. Like, the book really speaks about the human condition, haha.

>tfw you don't care about spoilers anymore

there should be a 30 question quiz on Infinite Jest as a prerequisite to posting here

you're all new

>>6690938
why don't you first readers actually start discussion so my mind doesn't have to wander to the end of the book??

>>6686097
I wanna meet the person whose favorite character is Bobby C

>>6691042
hence the reading. You make Mario look good

>>6691085
>newfucks running their mouths about mario

y-you, you, you ... m-mother fucker

>>6691085

You new highschool fuckers should have read it before coming to this shithole

now leave

>>6691094
okay you're being pretty ridiculous now, buddy

>>6685841
>tfw maybe would like to participate in this
>tfw lent my german translation of Infinite Jest to a friend before having read it completely (started it a while ago and never felt like pulling through
>got Murakami's 1Q84 books in exchange that I already finished by now
>don't know when I will get Unendlicher Spaß back
What a shame.

>>6690955
I think Jim wanted to destroy the samizdat master tape he had planet in his head. Though evidently he failed. This does however conflict with the idea that it was Jim who arranged the samizdat to be sent to the medical attaché. I would reckon he was somehow driven at least partially mad by viewing the entertainment, as he killed himself 90 days after initial shooting. But again, this has it's conflicts. I'm not exactly sure the crazy plot of Infinite Jest is meant to be 'solved'. I'm not sure it could be. It's more about the human aspect of things.

Gately's speed freak friend is the best female character in the book

>>6691097

where the fuck do you think you are, cowboy?

The tumblr and the google doc just say ""Day One" and not what day of the week or date that is. Could someone put dates, even at weekly intervals, so tracking it becomes easier especially when we're weeks and weeks deep.

>>6691177
Ennett House kid, but and so I can be anywhere, anytime in this year of our lord Y.D.A.U.

Watch your map kid
You never know what's in your TP

something neat but insubstantial I noticed

the youngster having a nightmare at eta early on in the book sees a face in the floor

later, hal says he starts having nightmares of a face in the floor after jim dies

it would seem to me then, this is early foreshadowing of the wraith, starting as early as page 60

I initially thought that "Whataburger" was a satirical name for a fast food chain, only to find that it is a real brand. Ya'll have too many fast food joints.... (all we have is McDonalds)

Just finished pages 17-33

The stoner character reminds me of myself during my stoner years. Obviously quite a bit more neurotic but for DFW to paint that picture of weed-induced paranoia so accurately he must have been a stoner for a good about of time.

Also, not sure exactly what Hal's interview with the conversationalist was all about... His own father was in disguise? I guess Hal is not a reliable narrator or something because he seems to be fucked up, but on paper he seems to be fairly cognizant.

>>6690422
Avril is a lot like DFW's dad. And bits of Himself's stuffmostly coming way later into the novel, I've read a lot on it before I read that far myself resemble DFW, but it's not a stand-in, definitely.

>>6692653
>dad
fuck me, I'm stupid, but you know what I meant.

>>6686500
>>6689661
>>6689674
>>6689737
>>6689748
Who gives a shit what most contemporary authors think of DFW?

I like his maximalist style as a breath of fresh air from a genre^1. David Foster Wallace^5 is a nice departure from the tired tropes of Modernist irony. Oh he is a modernist, no doubt about that (and no fault either) but his call to sincerity is refreshing, just like using Vaseline to mausterbate so as not to wear out your member after smoking a ludicrous amount of marihuana^6.

Anyway, the point being made is Wallace is a good author. Perhaps you don't like his style and his heavy handed delivery (I do, but we are all entitled to our opinions) but DFW (not the city; well two cities) creates the best characterized characters in the field of characterization.

I am being sincere when I say that.

The innerworkings of his characters minds and their actions are a pleasure to read.

1.) Minimalist contemperary literature, which has become so prevel any that it could be called the McDonalds of literature^2
2.) The phrase refers to the fact that McDonalds (founded in 1955) is a global fast food megacorporation that produces meals that are essentially the same no matter where you go. While it may be decent it is nice to get a decently cooked meal at times such as at Lenny's Diner^3
3.) A local favorite of mine, the unspoken speciality is seafood, and you would not typically expect this from a restaurant that does not portray itself as a seafood restaurant first and foremost. It would be like an Italian restaurant (ironically^4) serving the best shrimp fried rice in the tricounty area.
4.) I hate irony
5.) Here after referred to as DFW
6.) as in today's chapter^7
7.) you know the chapter were supposed to be reading and today's thread is supposed to be about. Why would you be here if you didn't read the chapter? To post memes? There are more apt websites for shitposting such as reddit.com^8
8.) shit

>>6692054
Whataburger is pretty great man^1

1.) if you are ever in Texas I recommend the honey butter chicken biscuit

>>6692620
>Also, not sure exactly what Hal's interview with the conversationalist was all about... His own father was in disguise? I guess Hal is not a reliable narrator or something because he seems to be fucked up, but on paper he seems to be fairly cognizant.

He's pretty reliable. It was his dad in a fake mustache.

The Erdedy-waiting-for-the-pot-to-be-delivered sequence was so deadly accurate that it made my formerly-pot-obsessive skin crawl.

>>6692716
Same, after it stopped being fun and id just get irrational thoughts and anxiety attacks.

Even the part about sex while stoned was dead on.

Wallace is good at describing shit.

>>6688335
>Is Hal autistic?

The first scene doesn't make complete sense until you get to the end of the book. Chronologically it takes place after all of the book's events.

It will be worth it; disregard the sniffly bitchiness of people who never finished the book.

>>6692735
>Wallace is good at describing shit

I think that's what >>6692686 is getting at in so many words. I have been really enjoying his overly descriptive style.

Just ordered my copy, gonna be here tomorrow

>>6689801
Only in the sense that she is the lethal face of perfect beauty when seen apologizing for giving birth to you over and over through the stereo wobble of Himself's magic lenses.

>>6690834
Hal in Year of Glad mentions the digging up the head thing, and so does wraith JOI. page 8nn something. It's all subtly hinted, which in POMO rules means definitely happened. Like Tony Soprano was shot in the head.

>>6692735
Agreed. He did a good job with Erdedy and, we'll soon see, Ms. Gompert's psych profiles. Couple things here for people re-reading, During the scene with the professional conversationalist not only do we see the leader of the AFR being linked with Avril, but the mention of the middle eastern attache whom Orin will eventually send the entertainment too.
I also have to wonder if James is tampering with the DMZ he has decided to introduce to Hal at this point to combat his percieved obnormalities, because as far as we know Hal appears as simply the brainy sperg he is for most of the book to the other characters until his breakdown

Why does Hal tell mario that he doesn't know it was Orin who called? Simply so that mario can get off to sleep and set the stage for indifference between them?

DUDE
WEED
LMAO

I enjoyed that chapter. Good portrayal of addiction and anxiety. Also, Hal really is autistic. Who memorizes entire dictionary entries?

>>6692854
seriously guys,
hal takes the dmz himself
why does everyone ignore this

The weed part was an excellent account of "this is the very last time."

I'm retreading and I still don't get the scene with Hal and JOI. How does JOI know the future? Does Hal not recognize his dad or is he playing along? And why? And why does the communication break down when it's revealed that it's father and son talking?

>>6692686
I remember a thread (maybe a few months ago) where OP asked for anons to write a passage like a particular author and for others to guess the author. One anon put his Wallacian endnotes in a bunch of other random threads. Shit was great. Anyone got a screencap?

>>6692939
First-time reader here. I can't speak to the knowing the future thing. My impression was that Hal doesn't really speak out loud to JOI at all in the scene. Some moments where JOI appears to directly respond to one of Hal's lines could be an answer to like a quizzical look. When he says about Avril something like "She didn't exaggerate, did she?," I imagine James is talking about Hal's ...state.. or whatever you'd call it, because Hal gives us the impression that the Moms was kind of in on the whole thing. The whole "dialogue" is pretty cleverly crafted. When the dots appear for Hal, we've just switched to James's POV. Hal had just been thinking over James's rambling.

Also, he plays along because he loves his dad? Idk. I think Hal gets it when JOI says "full-bore."

>>6693043
>When he says about Avril something like "She didn't exaggerate, did she?," I imagine James is talking about Hal's ...state.. or whatever you'd call it, because Hal gives us the impression that the Moms was kind of in on the whole thing
Just to be sure you know this conversation takes plave several years before Hal's breakdown in Chapter 1. I don't know what that anon is referring to about knowing the future either but I suspect he's just talking about the "foreshadowing" for chapter 1? The professional concersationalist scene is really odd though, I'm not sure I fully understand it especially inlaid against the entirety of the book. Maybe someone could come along and elucidate for both of us (perhaps spoilers for me)

>at page 46
>wondering why I haven't encountered a footnote yet
>reading near the bottom of the page
>suddenly see in small type font above the period
>"2"
>mfw

Where's it at /lit/? How did I miss it? SHIT I might as well just give up now

>>6692976
artist?

Oh fuck I will start it with you guys, always wanted to finish this behemot which stands in my bookstand staring at me with disdain.

Im one day behind tho

>>6693124
nvm found it, crisis averted. Useless footnote anyways

>>6693124
Mid 20's on the right hand pages somewhere. Its just a drug name. A lot of them are.

>>6693139
We're only on like page 33 dude

>using calibre to read the EPUB
>whenever theres an footnote/endnote all you have to do is click on it and it pops up in a new window

goat way to read this book

>>6693154
>mfw page 159

>>6693160
>not having a hard copy and using 12 different color coded bookmarks to track the Infinite Details
typical pleb

>>6693169
I've already read it and am beginning The Recognitions this afternoon, anon. Just be sure to retain enough to talk about the fucking thing :^)

while we got all these jesters in one thread
what is the consensus on

1) pale king
2) broom of the system
3) anything else worth reading

ive only read IJ before, (now rereading) and a supposedly fun thing, which I thought was brilliant

I've read Infinite Jest twice. I've also suffered from depression related to weed use.

there was a lot of cool but also eerie stuff I picked up on the second read through. DFW seems to have suffered from a kind of really dark existential terror he couldn't have put a name to.

ie, the evil face in hal's dream, that "dark wing" the guy is talking about in one scene, the infinite sharp-toothed void he describes in a later scene.

it's interesting because on the surface the book is about not becoming a "figurant", the background to someone else's story. but i think that fear of becoming a figurant - isolated, misunderstood, forgotten - opens you up to an almost infinite despair and a kind of fractalization of emotion because later, hal says something to the effect of "there's no limit to how far you can go into an emotion ... until it eventually becomes you"

that's why i like IJ so much. it's like life. really beautiful, bouyant humor and hope in the face of paralyzing psychic emptiness and spiritual death.

Anyone else though Emil was black until the 'fuck nigers' tattoo? Since when do Neo-Nazis talk like ghetto thugs?

'an so we cut da playa's ear off becus C is not 2Bdenied an we took his $'

what the heck

>>6693132
Alex Colville. Happens to be Canadian.

>>6693082
Yeah, I get the time thing. I'm not far enough along to understand what's up with Hal's inability to communicate. Clearly, as a young kid, Hal gives his parents the impression (or they hallucinate, according to him) that he doesn't speak. But later (narratively speaking), he's talking to Orin on the phone and Mario in his dorm, and even later (narratively speaking, but the first scene in the book), his speaking comes out as animal-like noises. So every scene Hal has had speaking with adults (or rather just not his brothers) within the first 50ish pages, there's some serious issues with his ability to communicate, and they're different and they occur at different points in time. I'm sure the book will be elucidating this for us later on.

Anyone else thought Emil was black until the 'fuck nigers' tattoo? Since when do Neo-Nazis talk like ghetto thugs? what the heck?

another question, am I a minority in loving the emil/poor tony/bobby c segments? I hear a lot of people complain about the thug-speak chapters, but I actually really like the street characters and the whole part with dr. wo. they're sad, and terrifying, and weirdly comfy. i wanna go 'crew some nigas for $' with my junkie friends

>>6693173
How are you color coding your notes? I was thinking about using a more organized system. Right now I'm just pencil writing in the margins, defining some tough words, underlining, referring to other page numbers, occasionally dog-earing pages and noting what I thought was important on said dog-ear. There's gotta be a better way, but I'm bad with colors and organization in general.

>>6693379
>tfw completely deface your books in black ink pen but can't stop because it feels so good

>>6686635
Skimming through the endnotes, isn't 294 actually meant to be 304?

>>6693386
>tfw the thought of writing in books with pen

I could find the very edition of the very book I want in fantastic condition in a book shop. If there's pen in there, back on the shelf it goes.

I just finished the first chapter guys. So far Im digging the book.

I almost never bother enough to take notes on my books, but Im seeing a lot of people getting into some deep details over the footnotes. Can someone tell me how I should approach this book in order to get the most out of it? First time reading through it.

Will eat dinner than go back for second chapter.

>>6693432
Just follow the discussion most of us have read it before.

>>6693436

but I wanted to be able to contribute some to the discussion, not just be a passive observer. I take pleasure in trying to think for myself, even if my opinions end up being utter shit.

>>6693475
jot down summaries of every scene you read and try to make connections on reflection

thats what I do with most books

>>6693425
getting off topic here but
>buy the plague used online
>comes filled with stick notes
>expecting some serious insight
>most are blank and the one annotation is blue pen on one of the last pages that says "life is meaningless"

>>6693140
>tfw I'm a chemist and looked at the footnote anyway

>>6693564
DFW is going to say some inaccurate and outdated (at the time of writing) things about pharmaceuticals in a while and you're just going to have to live with it.

What the fuck is up with Orin and the cockroaches?

Also the scene with the schizophrenic kid is hilarious.

>>6693082
I don't know if you guys have reached the filmography part yet, but this scene may actually be a film JOI did called "It Was
a Great Marvel that He Was in the Father Without Knowing Him"

>>6693587
I love Orin's cockroach killing methods

Don't see how the schizophrenic kid was funny though

>>6693597
>schizophrenic kid "hallucinates" that some secret organization is out to put radioactive substances inside his brain and use machines to kill him
>they research schizophrenia on him by injecting radioactive substances into his brain and then putting him in a machine that spins him extremely rapidly

>>6693535

that is some pretty deep notes right there.

Also, a friend I once lent a book to put stick notes under the phrases he liked or deemed important, without writing anything in them. Maybe that's what he did

Reading second chapter.

>tfw my relationship with weed was in many ways similar to that discription

it's a good way I got to stop smoking too much in the past semester, I could see myself becoming that guy if I kept blazing like I used to.

>>6688785
>Dumb.

I couldn't have described you better myself.

>What is shitposter who has never read it for 2000 Alex?

>>6688531
>pretty unsupported.

This is how you can tell fakers and shitposters. They are clueless about the obvious things that DFW went out of his way to make crystal clear in the last 200 pages.

>>6693668
>>6693664
You're really cool calling people who disagree with your reading "fakers" and "shitposters"

Would you like to share the evidence or just allude to its existence?

Enjoying the book so far. Is it worth taking notes/marking pages?

>>6692702
I'm a britbong, but I've got family in California. Whenever I go over I feast upon all the various fast food restaurants as it's a novelty. They've finally opened up Five Guys over here….

we could talk about wanking in the spoiler tags and none of the first time readers would know

4 2 0 B L A Z E I T
2
0

B
L
A
Z
E

I
T

>read spoiler tags
>happy because i'm inclined to believe none of it is genuine based off of >>6691022

anyone else not taking? what kind of notes do you take?

for me i note down any people or places who are in the scene or mentioned in the scene and give a brief summary of each scene organized by the year

>>6693789
Hal rapes his Moms, Avril. ebin meme isn't it.

>>6693806
I don't think note are necessary but I come here and ask questions after I'm done the day's reading while it's fresh.

>>6693595
Yeah obviously the part of reading scheduled today is mentioned there but I have an extremely difficult time believing that is the only point he tried to make in that scene is fleshing out the filmography.

>>6693806
If you're trying to keep chronology, here's a little help..

Subsidized time starts in 2002

>Year of the Whopper - 2002
>Year of the tucks medicated pad - 2003
>Year of the trial size dove bar - 2004
>Year of the perdue wonderchicken - 2005
>Year of the whisper quiet maytag dishmaster - 2006
>Year of yushityu - 2007
>Year of dairy products from the american heartland - 2008
>Year of the depend adult undergarment - 2009
>Year of Glad - 2010

Hal is born 1992
Jim is born 1950

>>6693716

I'm a first-time reader and I had the suspicion this was a shitpost and not an actual spoiler. Joke's on you!

>>6693697
What does note 114 refer to?

What is the "Continental Emergency"

Why is it an "ultra mach fighter"

Why is it heading in the direction of Canada?

Why is the game which critically injures Otis Lord not tennis, not any of a million ways he could have been injured, but specifically a nuclear holocaust simulation?

Why do Steeply and Marathe, the only two characters who know what's going on, the only two who can stop the war, spend several thousand words discussing the pathology of a crazy dude who saw immolative eschatological imagery in the US sitcom M*A*S*H?

What is the Gentle administration's foreign policy?

What is the last known condition of the Gentle administration?

Why are you pretending to have read this book?

>>6693892
>Year of the Yushityu 2007 Mimetic-Resolution-Cartridge-View-Motherboard-Easy-To-Install-Upgrade for Infernatron/InterLace TP Systems for Home, Office or Mobile [sic]

Fixt

>>6693907
I agree but you're being an asshole and should delete this and repost with spoilers, you faggot

>>6693907
Yes, but none of this points to a nuclear war actually erupting. I would agree, it presents the possibility, and you're making some clever connections I hadn't picked up on, you have a pretty strong case for a war with Canada, but I feel like it's missing the point of the book to look too far into its window dressing, and a bit out there to say every character is killed in a nuclear holocaust at the fault of Jim Incandenza. Nuclear war is a very real issue of our time, and DFW's time, so naturally in writing a speculative fiction, but it is so far removed from the book's core issues of communication, entertainment and escapism, I think, to play as significant or determinate role as you make it out to be.

>>6693907
Yes, but none of this points to a nuclear war actually erupting. I would agree, it presents the possibility, and you're making some clever connections I hadn't picked up on, you have a pretty strong case for a war with Canada, but I feel like it's missing the point of the book to look too far into its window dressing, and a bit out there to say every character is killed in a nuclear holocaust at the fault of Jim Incandenza. Nuclear war is a very real issue of our time, and DFW's time, so naturally in writing a speculative fiction it will be addressed, but it is so far removed from the book's core issues of communication, entertainment and escapism, I think, to play as significant or determinate role as you make it out to be.

Curious about how many people are in this group
https://strawpoll.me/4644578

>>6693907
>What does note 114 refer to?
dissolution of onan. any kind of conflict with canada would lead to this.

am I doing a disservice to the temple of literature if this is the first not textbook I've read for over 4 years?

>>6693940
The real key to nuclear war erupting is Eschaton. The Eschaton scene is the play within the play of Hamlet on a meta level and shows the reader what will happen

Just caught to page 33

>Year of the Depend Undergarment

what does this shit mean

also did they move forward by a few years or what?

>>6694173
actually in pages 1-33 it starts in the future then goes way back then back to the future then back to before the present then way back again before coming finally to the present

What is with the Chinky Cola?

When do the footnotes start?

>>6694220
I think the first one is in Erdedy's paranoia chapter, relating to methamphetemine

>>6691201
>year of our lord year of the depends adult undergarment

are you that stupid?

>>6692939
I think it is the final last time rather which makes it even funnier.

im two days behind, but i'll def do this.

So I just read the chapter about the medical attaché... I feel like I need to read this shit twice. Once using the wiki and dictionary to define/explain individual words or parses and another time to get the whole picture. Anyone else feel the same way or am I too fucking pleb?

>>6694089
It seems like a pretty rough way to get into reading again. This book will destroy you and you will probably not have the stamina to finish. Start small

Why the fuck did DFW write the chapter on Wardine? This is fucking annoying, not even the most uneducated, retarded black people talk like this.

>>6695158
As with all of his essays, DFW didn't do any research. He just showed up and gave his opinion on what was transpiring.

It's a shit method, but white kids from suburbs fucking love it for some reason.

>>6694958
you're pretty pleb but not for that reason, IJ def takes more than one read-through to understand

>SPFFFT. 'Here you are. Drink up.’
>'Thanks. SHULGSHULGSPAHHH . . . Whew. Ah.’
>'MYURP. Excuse me.’
>Tap tap tap tap.
>'SHULGSPAHHH.’

>>6695364
You guys actually think this is great literature.

Stop and think about that.

>>6695369
Yes, and, specifically the soda pop drinking sounds, that's where the praise lies.

>>6695256
>you're pretty pleb but not for that reason

Just got my copy. Which page am I supposed to be on by the end of today?

>>6695685
250 m8

Year of the Atheist Anon

>>6695685
Jesus fucking Christ, there are some useful links in the OP you know.

Page 306 right now .. poor Poor Tony

>>6695364
The beginning is extremely unfriendly if you aren't willing to trust DFW because if wardine be cry, Hal's insufferable POV intro, the onomatopoeia you're mad about, shortly JOI's filmography, and the lack of explanation about the greater world he references for hundreds of pages.

Also does anyone know where specifically the MASH chapter is? It's my favorite part and I can't remember where it like betwen like page 400 and 800

>>6695965
pages 635-650 or so

Just finished yesterday's read. Wtf is that part about the professional conversationalist that end up being his dad with a rented face (??) about? It kinda lost me there.

>>6696023
You have a pretty awkward family dynamic when your father feels the need to put on a disguise and rent an office in an attempt to talk to you, especially if that's the only way he can approach more serious things

>>6696029

So both Hal and his father are autistic, is that the conclusion?

I just thought it funny

>>6696052
You can make up your own opinion regarding those as we see more of them but multiple people in the thread have remarked on Hal's struggle with communication in his first few scenes and the possibility of him being autistic

It is a pretty funny scene though, and a lot of scenes can be appreciated really well on their own without a larger significance, which is pretty necessary when there are more than a few scenes that don't have too much of a large significance, but there's also a thematic significance to the lack of significance

A lot of Infinite Jest is made up of those strange type of contradictions, like writing a hyper-ironic tome as a call for sincerity

>>6695991
>DFW have to wait 6 hours to get home and re-read this and do the daily reading

>>6686500
Stephen King is the Walmart of authors. And we've all seen the kind of people that patronize walmart

>>6696132
Imagine having to wake up and be this retard every single day

>>6695158
>Why the fuck did DFW write the chapter on Wardine? This is fucking annoying, not even the most uneducated, retarded black people talk like this.

It's kinda cringy. Later on he nails a different dialect at an AA meeting, but this one.. er...

I don't remember from my first reading, and I'm on pg 670 or so in my second one, but the only part of the Wardine segment that figures into anything else is the bad guy she describes is a dealer Poor Tony mentions later.

Anyone else see something I missed?

Literally fucking what

>>6696596
das it mane

>>6695158
that chapter is hilarious

>>6695158
I think because the book was originally something like 1700 pages. There are a lot of sections that do nothing, and make me think that they were only meaningful in the context of the DFWs uncut version.

>>6695158
>>6696571
>>6696596
Considering the attention that prescriptive vs. descriptive grammar gets in the book, and the fact that language changes pretty constantly and IJ is set in the future, and also that this board full of "white kids from suburbs" likely has no experience being immersed in 100% unadulterated inner city English, we're still all just gonna assume that DFW "didn't do his research" instead of thinking that this chapter is possibly supposed to read exactly like this? Ok.

>>6695181
>this guy

>>6696132
fuck off

Fuckin bitch Avril I hope she dies

>>6695965
>greater world he references
did I miss it?

>>6696711

>that one guy that doesn't think/know DFW is a fraud

lol. Even DFW himself knew it.

>>6696741
No I mean when he starts talking about ONAN and shit you are going to be like "okay and that is...?" Which you won't find out for like 200 pages.

>>6696793
oh, I get it.
circa endnote 105 I'm getting headache about Quebecois independence, might be cause I'm european

Hal's tennis racquet has a gyroscope in it?

Is he just a completely useless retard?

>>6696989
is that a major fucking spoiler right here or am I being trolled

>>6697060
page 30
" 'That your quote-unquote "complimentary" Dunlop wideboy tennis racquest's super-secret formulaic composition materials [...] are organochemically identical I say again /identical/ to the gyroscopic balance sensor [...] implanted in your very own towering father's anaplastic cerebrum [...]' "

As of the end of the day 2 reread I understand the following:

- Hal is a strange child who at some point goes completely fucked in the head
- His dad can't hear him speak and is slowly dying (as he references anaplasia i guess of cancer), he has to have implants in his head to regain functions that he lost and has had to have multiple body parts removed including his penis, later on Hal digs up his skull i am guessing he committed suicide??
- The Moms cheats on Himself and has done for a long time, I am guessing that something bad happens to her to cause her to not be present at Hal's interview, possibly this is what makes Hal go mental?
- There are technological advances like the aforementioned implants as well as sonic balls, and teleputers with entertainment cartridges, no idea what an E.W.D. Land Barge is meant to be.
- Mario is disabled (Progeria?, Macrocephaly)

can anyone whos read the full thing tell me if any of these assumptions are wrong

>>6697085
oh, I took it partially as a metaphor, and paid only partial attention to it, but
>organochemically identical
>organochemically

>>6697138
You're doing well.

>>6697138
You have it, for the most part.

EWD= Empire Waste Displacement. Huge trash trucks. They figure into the Canadian dispute over the Concavity/Convexity. The US is launching enormous compacted bricks of solid waste into what was once rural Maine and Vermont; land the US ceded to Canada.

Waste displacement also figures into the motives of the wheelchair assassins (AFR) who consider the US to be a state sponsor of terror, and the government in Ottawa to have betrayed Quebec, which now sits at the edge of the most toxic waste dump in the world.

Might also make a note that Himself was involved with the key "annular" element of the nuclear power system in IJ, which also produces prodigious amounts of highly toxic waste.

>>6697138
>teleputers with entertainment cartridges

He basically predicted Netflix, Hulu, and all the streaming on demand services.

>>6697321
yeah in a way although it seems like you have to actually have a physical cartridge to watch stuff on a teleputer

>>6694114
I agree.

>>6694023
Of particular interest is the phrase "very last year of subsidized time"

Not, "last year of...."

"/VERY/ last year of...."

Seems like a lot of emphasis just to mark a minor milestone. One might even get the idea that something important happened. Like a Continental Emergency.

>>6697327
Eventually he's going to give the entire corporate history of Interlace Telentertainment, which is both a streaming service, as well as a cartridge dealer. Like Netflix still ships dvds.

>>6694173
>>6694197
[There is absolutely nothing spoiled by pointing out that] the chronology of subsidized time appears on page 223, in the definitive US edition.

>>6696571
>>6696596
it seems pretty obvious to me she's both uneducated and very very young

>>6697384
How many 'editions' are there? Mine has it on 223 too, I'm just curious.

>finally reading IJ
>holy shit this is awesome
>all meme books may actually be good
rocked my world

>>6697351
very last year of ONANite subsidized time
I say again, if war breaks out between two major figures in ONAN, it's not going to be around very long. the footnote to me only confirms the breakdown of ONAN

>>6693940
/OK FINE THEN HERE'S YOUR SPOILER WARNING!!!/

“....there is an ending [to Infinite Jest] as far as I'm concerned. Certain kind of parallel lines are supposed to start converging in such a way that an "end" can be projected by the reader somewhere beyond the right frame. If no such convergence or projection occured to you, then the book's failed for you.”

Just like David Chase. This cult of ambiguity=genius so we have to play pussyfoot around the maypole with what would otherwise be, for the other guy, the most banal possible ending. Tony got shot in the head. Don wrote the Coke ad. JOI caused the end of the world.

>>6697395
There are several foreign language editions whose pagination is slightly varied due to length of the translation.

I've heard rumors of a US hard cover, but I've never seen one, even on the internet. There is also the digital edition, which on some devices does not convert easily to page numbers of the original trade paperback.

>>6697403
what's crazy is that the meme books actually are good

>>6697443
oh, like this. makes perfect sense.. and makes me glad[glad, hehehehehhh] that I have a physical.

>>6697443
At $700, there is probably a reason they don't come up very often.

http://www.rarebookcellar.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=127457

>>6697458
>http://www.rarebookcellar.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=127457

>1079 pages

So it does exist, but the pages numbers will be the same as the trade paper.

>>6697308
dude why. DFW explains it on his own time.

so is yrstruly emil?
I thought so at first, but now it seems ambiguous

It's entirely possibly someone who wasn't present at Bobby C's death could have placed the hit on tony

>>6685841
get hype, I'm already 20 pages behind XDDDD

>>6697912
So read them.

I forgot about Orin's dream, and the cockroaches. I'm assuming the dead bird signals the beginning of the end so to speak, all of the events at ETA that will eventually impact 'Hallie' that Orin has unleashed with the entertainment. Boy, he really lays it on a bit thick with that dream sequence hub?
>mfw the footnote about Orin being unable to look past the surface

So Bruce Green is only like 24 huh? I figured him for early 30's last time. You should note the ironic schizphenic documentary is showing while Orin is horrified 'the last night's subject' is still there analyzing his oddities.

>>6686154
Did u read pale king?

Do you guys think that before DFW died he might have caught a glimpse of 4chan?

>>6686097
>http://strawpoll.me/4625366

>there are options for Clipperton or Bobby C but not Teddy Schacht

REEE WHY Clipperton isnt even a mainish character?

>>6698083
Sorry. I didn't even remember Schacht at the time I made the poll. Clipperton was more memorable to me and I figured people on 4chan would probably like him.

>>6697954
Am I stupid? What significance is there in his dream?

>>6698105
The Mom's and her various neuroses and hang ups has permanently and deeply impacted how he percieves and interacts with the world

>page 400
>recently finished a passage where an AA character describes her step father raping her retarded comatose step sister whilst it wears a mask of a female celebrity

And it somehow tied in with the themes of the book. Good job, DFW.

>>6697403
Infinite jest on /lit/ is like starting strength on /fit/

>>6698161

Now this post makes me want to consider starting strength.....

Just finished the Eschaton segment
You know you guys have actually won me over with the war theory

I'm guessing that was AFR in the idling car there, too

by the end of this read, hopefully we can, as a group, come up with a complete and consistent timeline of events both implied and otherwise

>>6698192
It's by far the best program for novices. /fit/, /lit/... The banal platitudes of trolls remain the same

>>6697327
in the scene with the arab dude he makes a brief reference to the TP being able to stream programs (the work-out show he (presumably) jerked it to)

>>6698264
but he is at 2010h still watching the unlabelled entertainment cartridge, the work out show was not on a cartridge, but on a stream right?

>>6698351
yeah, the workout show was streamed but was just referenced as something he has seen. the book says something like he could've have watched one of the streamed programs like the workout show but instead finds the envelope etc

>>6698364
oh yea I'm stupid, I thought you meant that DFW left the story with him and the workout, implying him strangling the snake. Also I didn't get the deal with the envelope, I hope it will reveal itself in due time and it's just not me being dim.

>>6698471
It's not just you being dim, saying that before someone spoils it

>>6698478
okay thanks, I felt like I was missing something, when a reminder of the envelope got inserted after the mario-hal dialogue.

>>6698508
what envelope? i'm on pg50 and its already looking to be a difficult read

>>6698536
It's really not too bad, on your first read, especially in the first few hundred pages I'd just enjoy the writing and scenes as disconnected vignettes

The connections will naturally appear as it goes on

>>6698536
It'll probably start to fit together a bit down the road. The envelope was one of the cartridges the arabic medical guy was looking at, remember how he was annoyed that it stood anniversary and yet it was the wrong month?

Footnote 24 -- (the film) It Was a Great Marvel That He Was in the Father Without Knowing Him -- "[A father] poses as a 'professional conversationalist' in order to draw the boy out" (993).

Sound familiar?

I feel like Wallace really nails the Dostoevsky flavor of dialogue in the conversation between Hal and Mario and pretty subtly puts them in their Karamazov roles in that scene and the Orin scene we read for today.

Also I found the foreshadowing pretty clever and ominous when it says Orin shaves in the extreme heat, "south to north strokes", the way he was taught, presumably by his father.

>>6698848
Yeah there's a lot of scenes that parallel parts of the filmography. I wonder if Himself acts out his own films as some kind of weird performance artist, to make them more real or if a film like that could've just been him filming Hal unaware. The implication is that Himself filmed it there but I feel like he really loses the lines between fact and fiction, so I can totally see him reenacting his films. I'll have more to say when I actually get to rereading the filmography

I remember when I first read it there seemed to be more than a few mentions of teeth in one hundred-page section or so and I was wondering if it had something to do with "Fun with Teeth"

also new thread when

>>6698882
I def remember Hal having tooth problems throughout the book, and there's also toothbrush stuff (Gately putting that toothbrush up his ass during the robbery, Hal's toothbrush)

>>6698603
oh, wasn't that the one his tp cartridge came in? what is confusing about that?

>>6699295
He's talking about the couple sentences referring to it a couple scenes later, when it says 40 minutes later the attache was still watching the tape

This book is making me want to go to AA or a halfway house...

Who /readsbutdoesntdiscuss/ here?

>>6699508
I'm reading for the first time and I feel most discussion in this thread is going way over my head.

How should I be reading it? With sticky notes? A notepad? A guide? With pencil markings on each page? Pure, without anything extra?

>>6699847
just read it and you'll get the jist of things. not too hard unless you wanna figure out the specifics of a mazelike plot that doesn't exactly call to be made specific

>>6699898
Ok, thanks
Though I probably will get an extra bookmark for the endnotes

NEW THREAD - PAGE 10

>>6699926
>>6699926
>>6699926

NEW THREAD