[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

View post   
File: 20 KB, 200x309, 200px-Infinite_jest_cover.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2516829 No.2516829 [Reply] [Original]

Has anyone here read infinite jest?
I'm a quarter way through and I have to say: What the fuck? Is the writer just being vague for no reason? Am I missing something? Is the jest on me? Is the point of this book to make as many pop culture references and parodies as possible? What is this clusterfuck of a book?

>> No.2516830

>Is the jest on me?

Indeed it is.

http://exiledonline.com/david-foster-wallace-portrait-of-an-infinitely-limited-mind/

>> No.2516832

>>2516830
stop posting that shitty fucking article, there are good criticisms to be made of IJ and that just isn't one, fucking hell man

also the exiled rules but that article is just really bad

>> No.2516835

>Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him , Horatio: A fellow/ of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy.

>> No.2516837

>>2516829
First DFW book?
Should have started with something shorter and easier.
Maybe his short stories.

It's a really good book, but regardless, you're obviously not ready for it, and thus probably shouldn't be diving into postmodern masterpieces like Infinite Jest.

>> No.2516838

>>2516832
I disagree. I found that several of his criticisms were quite on point.

>> No.2516843

>>2516837
This comes off more demeaning than I intended.

>> No.2516845

>>2516838
His criticisms are basically "didn't do enough drugs, not positive enough about drugs"

>> No.2516847

>>2516837
Infinite Jest isn't particularly difficult. Most of the prose is quite straightforward.

>> No.2516850

>>2516837

Somehow that isn't very convincing coming from someone with x'es in his tag. I feel more trolled by the second.

>> No.2516854
File: 41 KB, 569x426, tao-meg.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2516854

>>2516850
>someone with x'es in his tag
u don't understand me. fuk u.

>> No.2516860

>>2516847

OP here. Don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't understand it the various references and concepts on their own, I just don't see the theme that I feel should be persistent throughout the book.

>> No.2516865

>>2516854

Oh! Right! You're being ironic!

>How bout you gobble my cock right up, you fucking queer?
Don't mind me. Just being ironic.

>> No.2516873
File: 63 KB, 932x538, nuggets 2.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2516873

>>2516865
I don't think you understand irony.
This may explain why you don't understand Infinite Jest.
I stand by the fact you should probably leave po-mo alone.

>> No.2516874

>>2516845
There's a lot more than just that. He points out why the main character is unsympathetic, he identifies several flaws in the prose, he exposes the lack of research that went into writing the book, he scoffs at the author's naivete. I'm not sure what more you could ask for.

>> No.2516885

>>2516873

I don't think you understand sarcasm. This might explain why you're such an enormous cunt. I stand by the fact that you should propably shun all human contact.

>> No.2516905
File: 40 KB, 285x360, paloma.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2516905

>>2516885
We should make out.

>> No.2516909

Slaf, you're fucking annoying. Deal with it.

>> No.2516910

>>2516905

Bitch please, I can almost feel myself getting oral herpes through the internet.

>> No.2516969

>>2516905
Hey, it's the most annoying/sexiest person on Never Mind.