/lit/ - Literature

Yes.

No.

Is this you in the picture. If so, you are pretty. Gold Star.

would fuck

that's not op faulkner
i googled it

I'm meaning to. Can't get it at the library, can't find it at Half-Price. Being poor sucks.

Yes. But I wish i didnt

>>924395

How long did it take to get into it? I've read 300 pages and it's still moving slowly, the actual plot involving the tape has barely started.

>>924419

I got it on Amazon for like a fiver...

>>924433

Why?

>>924453
I liked it until about page 400. Then I decided it sucked. So I read another 400 pages (and all the fucking end notes) to see if that would change my mind. It didn't.

Although it did have me laughing at some parts and the story was half bad, I'd still say it's a waste of reading time since reading, to me, must be more than just silly entertainment. It's not deep. Nothing soul crushing or mind blowing.

>>924470

Most people (from the reviews I've read) say it IS mind blowing, but I'm starting to get the feeling they've just never thought about the kind of stuff Wallace writes about, and find it new and refreshing.

He makes some good observations, but it's nothing revolutionary.

What books have you found deep then? Any recommendations?

>>924470
I'd say it's pretty deep when you take into account its critique of the role that entertainment plays in American culture and its parallel to alcohol abuse and careers

>>924453

I'm currently 500 pages in and have given up on any serious plot action, and am now simply enjoying it for the style and characters.

>>924483
>>924492
I dunno. I didn't find it meaningful or deep. Although, he does hit recovery programs on the fucking head (I know from exp). I thought Brave New world did a much better job at what I think Wallace was getting at.

>>924498

I'm kinda sad tho that he has not gone back to the guy with the weird weed addiction from the 3rd or 4th "chapter".

I read it.
>>924483
Deep is such an arbitrary term. I prefer to give books high standing if they give me pause; that is if while reading the book I come across something so profound I have to stop reading immediately and just lapse into a reverie on what I've just read, I know it's something good. It could be a deftly delivered insight or a masterful, well earned denouncement. Infinite Jest caused several of those moments with me. And to be honest, I much prefer DFW journalistic works over his fiction.

>while reading the book I come across something so profound I have to stop reading immediately and just lapse into a reverie on what I've just read

do real people actually do this
i thought that was something that only happened in stories
man you guys are a corny bunch

I feel like there's a sort of obligation to think the book is amazing or else you feel like you've wasted all the time it took you to read 1000+ pages of post-modern herp-derp-ing, which you have.

>>924505
I often forget that Infinite Jest was in fact set in the future. But it seems like an already antiquated future, with nothing working. It gave it this ring of authenticity. Brave New World was the other way around wasn't it? So fantastic that it couldn't possibly happen?
Now, tell me, what point was made better in Brave New World so we may continue this discussion.

>>924508

That chapter I really liked, because I could relate(although not with weed, I never thought it could be that addictive) and thought it was very accurate. In an interview Wallace said he had tried some recreational drugs but his system couldn't handle them...

I was wondering if these subplots are just inserted here and there or if he'll bring them all together at the end.

>>924526
it does happen, Stagolee, and I don't know how to make it sound less obvious. I was reading the Magus by John Fowles waiting for a trolley train to show, when I read something and completely lapsed over and was in such a state of reflection that when I had come to I was home. The entire ride was just this automated trip as I thought over what happened in the book. Maybe I'm just different. Call it cheesy if you want to, but I frakkin love it, and that's why I read in the first place.

pic unrelated

>>924538
The whole dangers of drugs and entertainment. It doesn't matter when it's set, it's the universal truth that the authors bring forward. Am I wrong in comparing these two books in the way that I did? I think not.

>>924538

Also I was impressed when I heard it was written in the early 90s, he made some pretty good predictions about future technology, that chapter about video telephones especially.

>>924565
That's already been predicted! Bradbury, for one, and countless others.

Anyway, yeah, like I'm saying, nothing new in IF.

>>924538

At this point it's more alternate timeline than futuristic. He was soo close to predicting Netflix....

>>924562
Oh no, you weren't wrong. Brave New World had open sexuality and pills as its drugs, and they were compulsory, practically. They were there to enforce the populace into expected behaviors. Infinite Jest used the drugs as metaphor for ways we forcefully limit ourselves, or how we define ourselves.

>>924571
what about the roving hoards of feral hamsters?

>>924582
"hello netflix, how can we help you?"
"I want that video that will kill me dead."
"Ringu or Infinite Jest style?"
"Infinite Jest, please"

>>924583
>or how we define ourselves.

Hmm that got me thinking. A very good point, I see what you're saying.

>>924591
Gah, I don't know.

Expecting Infinite Jest to have a plot is like expecting drug addiction to have a plot.

It just...goes on in no particular direction.

>>924598
Brave New World set up an easy dichotomy for the protagonist to knock down. Infinite Jest internalized the struggle somewhat, and never really settled on a distinct protagonist (a kind of cop out, plot-wise) but I think both authors were making pretty solid work out of the role drugs will play in the future with insightful views.

>>924453
I have a bank account for my financial aid, which I was shocked I was allowed to open even for that purpose. It has 16 cents in it until September. I have no other bank account, and can't get one. I'm also on probation and so the majority of money I make goes to various programs I'm forced to attend and/or fines and fees. Drug addiction can also lead to terrible credit and owing every bank you can possibly think of money, to the point where it is impossible to open a bank account.

>>924693

Can you really not save up a dollar a day or something, do you work? How are you on the Internet?

I don't care about what OP is /r/ing, saying, asking or whatever she is doing, I'm just taking my time to say that it's really sad that now /lit/ is flooding with camwhores... so, so sad...

>>924766

>mfw I'm a guy just posted a random picture of a camwhore with my trip on her arm

Why not just read the thread, this board is about literature it doesn't even need images.