/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.10740741]

Which is the book all of us NEED TO read and why is it Infinite Jest?

[Anonymous No.10740805]

>>10740741
This and Moby Dick. Weed out all the plebs and crossposters

[Anonymous No.10740973]

aside from some of the relatable themes of IJ, having read the book is kind of an accomplishment simply because it is a laborious effort

reading IJ is a sufficient condition to being considered a somewhat serious reader

[Anonymous No.10740998]

>>10740973
>Reading a joke book now makes you a somewhat serious reader

[Anonymous No.10741020]

>>10740998
Ironic, huh?

[Anonymous No.10741054]

>>10740998
when the joke book is 1000 pages long and written with a vocabulary fit to rival Nabokov, yes it does.

[Anonymous No.10741685]

>>10740741
>what is the meme trilogy

[Anonymous No.10741693]

>>10741685
How soon we are forgotten

[Anonymous No.10741698]

will never read this trash hahahaha

[Anonymous No.10741989]

>>10741054

Length and complexity have absolutely nothing to do with being a serious reader. I'm sure you could power through the critique of pure reason or the phenomenology of spirit, And it wouldn't matter at all if you don't get it

No, understanding the themes, symbology, character progression, etc and forming your own interpretation of a book based on those is what makes you a serious reader, It is not related to length or vocabulary.

[Anonymous No.10742002]

>>10740741
i already read it buddy, looks like u laggin'

[Anonymous No.10742151]

>>10740741
You guys need to read the recognitions because you are all otto

[Anonymous No.10742360]

>>10741054
>fit to rival Nabokov
So, welterweight?

[Anonymous No.10742670]

>>10741685
may as well be an unilogy baka desu senpie

[Anonymous No.10742990]

>>10740741
this book is not even remotely difficult. once you get 100 pages in and you're used to the writing style the thing is a breeze. the only difficult thing about it was inferring about the "hidden" ending (which admittedly, I didn't put together all the way)

the book is heartbreaking, hilarious, and very comforting for anyone with depression or isolated feelings. easily the best book I read last year, really want to read it again soon.

[Anonymous No.10742996]

>>10740741
I get really fucking mad when people call this a joke book. Not trolling, I actually do. DFW didn't poor everything in his heart out over 1000 pages for some pseuds who jerk off to jordan peterson videos to make fun of him

I',m not kidding, it actually makes me mad.

[Anonymous No.10743063]

>>10742996
i dont even understand the idea of it being a joke book? is it because it’s funny in parts and the title?

[Anonymous No.10743437]

>>10742151
woah /lit/ really is otto huh. that book was an experience

[Anonymous No.10743634]

I just bought the book this morning and have been reading it. I always hear about how people on this board have such trouble getting through the first chapter because its hard to understand...
Yet I really had no problems comprehending it.
is everyone on this board just retarded or what?

[Anonymous No.10743708]

>>10743063
I don't even think it is thought as a "joke book" outside of /lit/.
Some people legitimately don't like it because of its style (very few people I guess).
The majority of the people who doesn't like it never actually read it and just wanna bash it because it's easier to few superior by saying "I won't read this because it's a meme lmao" than actually facing the fact that it's a daunting task and you are jealous of people who did it.
Specially when you can use Bloom's words about it ("no discernible talent") to justify your plebness.

Anyway, it used to be a big /lit/ favorite quite some years back (tbqh it probably still is), then a lot of contrarians who have never actually read it started calling it a meme because it feelsgood to diss a 1000+ page book and get a excuse to not read it.
That's why it is called a "joke book" here sometimes.

[Anonymous No.10744097]

It's def IJ ,because you need to read it to be in on the memes

>>10740741

[Anonymous No.10744136]

>>10743708
http://reductress.com/post/why-im-waiting-for-the-right-man-to-tell-me-to-read-infinite-jest/


In my SJW philosophy circles it's kind of a meme book in the sense we all know it's a good book overall but most people who talk about it intentionally over hype it for the investment you need to put into it, especially dudebros. So it's fun to talk about using it as a door stopper or a foot stool or whatever. I guess my friends kind of look at it like doing psychedelics - fun but it doesn't make you deep or interesting like tons of people want to act like it does.

[Anonymous No.10744202]

>>10744136
>fun but it doesn't make you deep or interesting like tons of people want to act like it does.

Finished it last month, couldn't agree more. I only read it in the first place because some of the content matter (especially depression) interested me. I was also intrigued by people online who swore it was the greatest literary achievement of all time and that it was the realest shit ever, and by people who said it was trash and DFW was a hack/meme yada yada.

In the end, what I got was a very heartfelt and personal book that I really enjoyed and certainly don't think sucked, but it was not some paradigm-shifter for me. As you said, a lot of the hype comes from the time investment. FUck it was long.

[Anonymous No.10744236]

>>10744136
>it doesn't make you deep or interesting like tons of people want to act like it does
that's every book tho

[Anonymous No.10744256]

>>10742360
kek

[Anonymous No.10744294]

>trying to narrow it to one but accidentally picking the worst of the meme trilogy

[Anonymous No.10744483]

On a side note, why does Bloom feel as he does about IJ? Did he ever justify it to any extent? I don't really care about his opinion, but it's just so vague and in all honestly a pleb-criticism coming from a literary giant like Bloom.

[Anonymous No.10744500]

>>10741054
>Nabakov
>vocab

Uhh no, unless you're including his French and Russian cross posting. Ive had to grab the dictionary far more often in the first 100 pages of IJ than I did all of Lolita, excluding the French.

Anyway, Nabokov is excellent because of the prose, not the vocab as the other anon pointed out it's not about length or using arbitrarily long or obscure words.

[Anonymous No.10744511]

>>10743634
For me it's not the individual chapters but the drastic changes from chapter to chapter. You'll see what I mean, possibly, when you get to Year of the Trial Sized Dove Bar. That chapter and the one before it, while not difficult, required some rather abrupt readjusting that I haven't had to do before.

[Anonymous No.10744515]

>>10742151
what is otto?

>inb4 (you)

[Anonymous No.10744523]

>>10744515
Nevermind, I think I was being oblivious to the obvious, but correct me if I'm wrong.

[Anonymous No.10744527]

What should I read first, IJ or the Greeks?

[Anonymous No.10744532]

>>10741989
>>10742360
>>10744500
>tfw to inteligent for nabokov and david foster walace

[Anonymous No.10744533]

>>10744527
Doesn't matter in this case. You need Greeks to understand canon and works that reference it, IJ is neither

>...(((((((yet)))))))

[Anonymous No.10744545]

>>10744136

it's treated like it is in SJW circles bc DFW is the most obvious white male author there is. it's legit no more complicated than that. his hate crowd are completely shallow. I've dated so many girls who do the "I hate IJ readers" shtick. go find one of those girls n feel em up. agree with them then probe to see what they even know about his books to begin with (never even touched them and most barely read to begin with). Jesus fucking Christ. they have as much self awareness as someone who just irrationally hates Twilight readers

[Anonymous No.10744551]

I would rather step on a lego with my testicles than read Infinite Jest.

[Anonymous No.10744562]

>>10744500
Wide vocab is a plus in a work of fiction?

[Anonymous No.10744582]

>>10744562
Why are you asking this? Did you think my post implied that somehow? Or are you just baiting me for a (you) with a deragatory question like this?

[Anonymous No.10744606]

>>10744582
He's not even asking a derogatory question; fiction should be a mix between beige and purple prose, and Infinite Jest is a pretentious rag which swings toward the latter.

[Anonymous No.10744614]

>>10741054
>written with a vocabulary fit to rival Nabokov
Wait, so I'm not functionally illiterate for having to look up hundreds of words per chapter of IJ?

[Anonymous No.10744615]

>>10744606
It could easily be perceived as deragatory bait, as more obscure vocab does not equal better writing, and he was, as far as o could tell, implying I believed this (how he arrived at those conclusions I don't know, my post clearly expressed feelings to the contrary). Also, prose can be purple while using no obscure vocab.

[Anonymous No.10744822]

>>10744606
>pretentious rag
just because you can't finish a long book doesn't mean its a pretentious rag.
go back to reading Ready Player One baby boy.

[Anonymous No.10744837]

>>10744500
Is English your second language?

[Anonymous No.10744844]

>>10740741
read it when I was 15. pleb.

[Anonymous No.10744987]

>>10744844
You must have been very popular with your aunts.

[Anonymous No.10745297]

>>10740741
Was DFW even sincere?

[Anonymous No.10745308]

>>10745297
Yes

[Anonymous No.10745309]

>>10744987
lmao wrekt

[Anonymous No.10745332]

>>10744532
>to inteligent
>walace
How are you this retarded?

[Anonymous No.10745334]

>>10740741
The fact this book is spammed by /lit/ pseudo-intellectuals means I'm never going to read it.

[Anonymous No.10745339]

>>10745334
good

[Anonymous No.10745344]

>>10745332
meme

[Anonymous No.10745359]

>>10745344
What do you mean "meme"? As if that somehow validates the utter degeneracy that plagues this putrid board. Honestly I'm sick of it and you should be too. How dare you let a perfectly reasonable forum for discussion be torn down by childish phenomena like "memes" about incorrect spelling. Haha, so funny, absolutely hilarious. Jesus Christ, you'd think this board is run by 5 year olds. Grow the hell up. Idiots.

[Anonymous No.10745364]

>>10745359
What do you mean "meme"? As if that somehow validates the utter degeneracy that plagues this putrid board. Honestly I'm sick of it and you should be too. How dare you let a perfectly reasonable forum for discussion be torn down by childish phenomena like "memes" about incorrect spelling. Haha, so funny, absolutely hilarious. Jesus Christ, you'd think this board is run by 5 year olds. Grow the hell up. Idiots.

[Anonymous No.10745401]

>>10745297
YES HE WAS

[Anonymous No.10745557]

>>10745297
No, he was an absolute spoofer, he was doped to the gills on benzos and SSRI's which explains how he managed to, with no apparent self awareness, waffle on for 3000 fucking pages before turning in a manuscript to his poor fucking editor.

Literally 2 thirds of his original manuscript was binned which is ridiculous. And this CUNT thought we were going to distribute media via cartridges in the future, I haven't seen a cartridge since the Super Nintendo.

Abstract suburban nonsensical shite.

[Anonymous No.10745635]

>>10745334
Close-minded people don't belong on /lit/

[Anonymous No.10746622]

>>10744527
IJ

[Anonymous No.10746998]

>>10740741
>Which is the book all of us NEED TO read
The only thing that NEEDS to be read is the word of God, not some postmodern hipster garbage

[Anonymous No.10747439]

>>10744837
No, why? What are you trying to imply now, that because I had to grab the dictionary more for IJ than Nabokov that suddenly I'm ESL tier? That doesn't even make any fucking sense, not by any stretch of implying implicit implications.

[Anonymous No.10747443]

>>10745332
How does it feel falling for bait, and realizing you're even more retarded than him?

[Anonymous No.10747466]

>>10746998
>that
>the word of God
ummm try again sweetie

[Anonymous No.10747784]

>>10747466
sandniggu REEE