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/lit/ - Literature

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22579486 No.22579486 [Reply] [Original]

how can it be so verbose yet contain no superfluity

>> No.22579509

are you going to post an IJ hate thread every day? Getting filtered by IJ is genuinely embarrassing and you should reconsider your life.

>> No.22579514

>>22579509
i meant this as a good thing. i love infinite jest, only slaughterhouse five beats it out in my mind. i meant this in that it is incredibly verbose, downright purple, and yet no word is out of place, nothing is superfluous

>> No.22579524

>>22579486
You got it backwards kiddo

>> No.22579529

>>22579524
how can it be so superfluous but contain no verbosity?

>> No.22579574

>>22579509
the absolute state of reading comprehension on /lit/

>> No.22579579

>>22579574
it's almost like the whole board is esl or something
to be fair i did word is ambiguously but i didnt think THAT ambiguously

>> No.22579593

>>22579514
>it is incredibly verbose, downright purple, and yet no word is out of place, nothing is superfluous
That is a contradiction, it is not purple if nothing is superfluous. Can you give an example of something in IJ which you consider purple?

>> No.22579605

>>22579593
sorry, allow me to amend that. to the untrained pleb's eye (me) it appears purple yet is not in truth because of its utter lack of superfluity

>> No.22579611

>>22579574
>>22579579
>>22579514
nah I'm just retarded sorry.
I'll kms at the soonest opportunity.

>> No.22579615

>>22579611
or instead you could commit yourself to a fate worse than death, discussing what i meant by this
if you've read IJ then you should be able to tell me, i'm eager to hear your thoughts baka

>> No.22579635

>>22579615
now that I understand your original point, I have to say I agree. One thing that blew me away with IJ is how watertight the prose actually is. My copy was ~1300 pages and yet when there is an opportunity to use one word instead of a whole sentence to describe something DFW would use a single word. And he would still find a way to make it readable and not like he shat a thesaurus onto the page. What's even more impressive is that this is a maximalist book, so DFW did this with every single aspect of his world and story.
His writing was also filled with sincerity, it felt like he had a reason to try and put everything on the page and not just to make his book massive (which it can seem like to people who haven't read it). IJ was cooked up with pure love for the written word.
What are your thoughts, anon?

>> No.22579663

>>22579635
i could not have said it better myself. each word that seems like a thesauretical expounding actually affects and gives depth to the prose and overall story in a way that convinces me he may have been one of the most if not the most brilliant minds of our time. whenever my feeble mind encounters the words i am unknown to that he uses, and i find out what they mean, it enhances the scope of the story he is trying to tell, and elucidates a meaning that other words could have not. it's almost enough to make one not want to write ever again. except it's not: not in the least bit because he is dead and we will never get more, but because it's such a display of skill not to shame the aspiring, but to embolden them and make them want to learn from what he has given us and reach to the highest highest we can
>His writing was also filled with sincerity
exactly this. in fact, even, in the most literal sense, LITERALLY this. he speaks of it often and it shows in every word he types, even in his coy and oft absurd humor, that everything he wrote was of pure sincerity. irony is the mind and soul killer. there was true reason to everything he wrote beyond "hurr le society" and "derp METACOMMENTARY". he ascended beyond the bullshit societal trappings of an art and media overladen society. it pains me to no end he isn't here to comment on our current oversaturated hell—but honestly, in many moments, i can see why he didn't want to be in this world any longer

>> No.22579666

>>22579663
*heights
goddamn i am stupid

>> No.22579669

>>22579593
thanks for upholding the rigid definition of the terminus technicus 'purple prose'

>> No.22579685

>>22579663
>whenever my feeble mind encounters the words i am unknown to that he uses, and i find out what they mean, it enhances the scope of the story he is trying to tell, and elucidates a meaning that other words could have not
This was my experience too.
> irony is the mind and soul killer.
He genuinely changed my mind on irony as comedy. I see now that it is an avoidant and insincere way of engaging with the world and others.

I too wish he was still here, but then I stop and think "DFW found the world unbearable when it was the 90s internet and TV, he would have gone insane in today's world.". I wish we could get more books from him, but I understand that this world was too much for somebody who values sincerity. On a personal level, it made me realise why I feel so out of touch with my peers.

>> No.22579746
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22579746

>>22579509

>> No.22579751
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22579751

>>22579593
The absolute state of dfwfags kek

>> No.22579757

>>22579685
irony is a rejection of the real, and comedy at its basis is funny because it's true. you do the math.
and yeah, definitely. DFW could not even pretend to deal with the way the world has gone post-2013. shit is too ingenuine and hyperreal. i miss that lil nigga like u wouldnt believe. but he is gone for a reason. it is selfish to think that he should still be here for my own entertainment. my infinite jest, if you will.
i love how he illuminated the true boundary between the joke and the pain, how they are of the same currency. just different sides. how the funniest shit is the saddest, and the saddest the funniest. somehow he managed to show the in-joke the audience has, the basis of irony, is ultimately hollow, and how the cosmic joke is on us. brilliant man. i fucking miss him dearly.

>> No.22579840

>>22579757
>he illuminated the true boundary between the joke and the pain, how they are of the same currency. just different sides. how the funniest shit is the saddest, and the saddest the funniest.
well said, anon.

>> No.22579845

>>22579593
Are you autistic? Genuine inquiry and no I’ll will of course, friend.

>> No.22579850

>>22579746
I know, embarrassing display from myself.

>> No.22579854

>>22579840
thank you for your posts. they have made my night. sincerity supreme.
it is insane how he (DFW) predicted and usurped all hipster pretense
fucking hell just read through endnote 145
legit how did he fucking do it

>> No.22579985

>please explain IJ to me
>i do NOT want to think for myself. ever.
Same thread. Every day

>> No.22580794

>>22579845
No. I was going to use that as a jumping off point for OP question with the obvious tie ins regarding editing and the avoidance of words/phrases you don't fully understand, perhaps bringing it around to DFWs prose and what defines it and/or his writing process. It was also a way to gauge exactly what sort of retard I was dealing with so I could phrase my response in a way that would be effective in my goals. But I decided to sleep instead. Maybe after grocery shopping I will make that post.

>> No.22581099

>>22579985
You’re are retarded

>> No.22581901

>>22579669
kek

>> No.22582308

>>22579486
>can't keep reading this until everyone has done their butterflies so i'm going through Organon instead
obviously you can make this shit up

>> No.22582574

I might not have been paying attention but why does DFW make Gately racist?

>> No.22582590

>>22582308
based schizo retard

>> No.22582607

>>22582574
As a member of America's white, educated middle/upper-middle class, David Foster Wallace actually believes every working class white man has an ignorant distrust for browns. In his head he is only representing reality.

>> No.22582610

>>22582607
reserve my judgment? it's on the fucking menu

>> No.22582624

>>22582607
*believed

>> No.22582638

>>22582574
>>22582607
you clearly have never been to boston

>> No.22582657

>>22582574
Because Gately was true intelligence just inarticulate unlike HAL

>> No.22582663

>>22582657
And yet Erdeddy is not interesting because of his drug of choice. can't win.

>> No.22582735
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22582735

>>22579509
>anon doesn't know what superfluous means

>> No.22582936

>>22582735
Okay fuck you it was first thing in the morning nigga leave me alone come on

>> No.22582941

>>22582936
it's ok I've been there

>> No.22582987

>>22579486
I love irony. I'm too English for this book.

>> No.22583016

What would you guys say DFW's main literary influences were?

>> No.22583141

>>22579509
>Il/lit/erate

>> No.22583189

I discern no talent in this thread

>> No.22583217

>>22579574
These are your work colleagues.
These are your children's schoolteachers.
These are your culture, war and finance ministers.

>> No.22583230

>>22583016
I don't know about main influences but I'm assuming, just based on the title of the book in question in the thread, that Shakespeare is one of many influences.

>> No.22583264
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22583264

>>22583217
>mfw I'm all of the above

>> No.22583385

>>22582607
Something something proximity to niggers

>> No.22583506

what are some other prose works in the lexophilic-sincerity genre

>> No.22584123

>>22579509
Fuck you

>> No.22584131

>>22582574
He doesn't make him racist. He makes him disenchanted with the American Dream and his disliking of minorities is partly frustration because they still believe in it.

>> No.22584847

>>22583016
Don DeLillo and David Lynch

>> No.22585120

>>22584847
What about Pynchon?

>> No.22586677

>>22585120
quite possibly, there's definitely some GR in it

>> No.22586739

I can tell this is a bad book because all the fans are just patting themselves on the back while dreading that there are other large books out there

>> No.22586816

>22586739
>only read penny dreadfuls

>> No.22586830

>>22579486
What is it about?

>> No.22586836

>>22586830
tennis and consooming too much

>> No.22588662

>>22587404
Someone redpill me on the meme trilogy

>> No.22589603

>>22588662
you should. dont skip ulysses but read the trilogy in reverse chronological order

>> No.22589690

>>22579574
>implying any of us know how to read
Text to voice is all we need, anon. Reading is for peasants

>> No.22589714

>>22589690
based

>> No.22589900

>>22589603
>in reverse chronological order
Why?

>> No.22589926

>>22589900
it's more fun that way

>> No.22590305

>endless guffaw

>> No.22590319

>>22586816
Yeah and then they read ij once and it blows their little minds kek

>> No.22590330

>>22590319
wtf??? IJ was actually good?? anons, i...

>> No.22590343

>>22590330
Quite the reader

>> No.22590351

>>22590343
you are too smart for me, please let me suck your cock

>> No.22590836

>neverending giggle

>> No.22590965
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22590965

>>22586739
90% of the IJ is David Foster Wallace dancing his humogous nose around his own sphincter
10% is him taking a huge whiff
/lit/ calls him a genius regardless

>> No.22590986

>>22586830
crude dystopian parody with shoehorned supernatural elements about an insane hollywood director that weaponizes blu-ray diskettes and the FBI must find the master copy before the terrorists gets their hands on it.

>> No.22591778

>>22590836
>Limitless Tittering

>> No.22591844

>>22579757
nigga you're going to make me shed a tear

>> No.22591857

kill yourself, you make this world a worse place. NO MORE will the cuckoldry of infinite jest control the media. die!

>> No.22591863

>>22591857
not this guy again

>> No.22591876

>>22591857
oi vey!

>> No.22592878

>>22591857
He already did, though. You're like 15 years too late. It's infinitely funny how you're still seething about it, though jk I know you said it all in jest for poos and hahas

>> No.22592929

>>22592878
>infinitely funny
anon, i

>> No.22593152

>>22592878
I will infinitely jest on your grave

>> No.22593156

>>22592878
for poos and hahas