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/lit/ - Literature

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7139263 No.7139263 [Reply] [Original]

What is the deal with Infinite Jest? Is it really as amazing as people make it out to be or is it all hype?

>> No.7139273

>>7139263
Best book since Blood Meridian, nothing has come close since, sounded the death-knell of post-modernism and the beginning of something new. Make sure you read it with other people who are seriously committed to finishing it

>> No.7139353

>>7139263
In terms of literary merit it is rather amazing, if you'll find it enjoyable is another question.

>> No.7139358

no discernible talent

>> No.7139368

>>7139273
Nothing can come after postmodernism, metamodernism is quack.

>> No.7139369

>>7139263
its overrated tbh, i think most of the people that praise it just aren't particularly well read, first time i read it i was blown away, upon re readings it becomes clear david foster wallace is horrifically overrated

>> No.7139374

>>7139263

It's not only masterfully written, but it's fiction that can help you live in today's inauthentic and addiction driven times. Like said before it is the end of ironic, dead-end, post-modernism and is the beginning of New Sincerety, which actually affirms what it means to be human.

>> No.7139382

>>7139263
It's a good book, and beyond being a good book, it's got a distinct style. If you read it, you'll probably enjoy it and get something out of it. It's not a great book, though. You're not going to revisit it for the rest of your life like you might revisit your favorite poems or Stoner or something. Everything that's more than 300 pages these days gets praised as the second coming of Joyce.

>> No.7139391

>>7139368

>Nothing can come after postmodernism

You can't be patrician if you're not well-versed in history, and you can't be well-versed in history if you hold the above belief.

>> No.7139392

>>7139263
I had just moved to Boston when I read IJ for the first time and it really helped me get a handle on the city, especially the exurban townie parts. I'd say that's especially impressive since a fair amount of the action takes place in a fictional suburb.

>> No.7139394

>>7139391
Can you explain?

>> No.7139433

>>7139394
Not him, but the notion that art will cease to evolve for any reason is observably ridiculous.

>> No.7139448

It's pretty cool. You have an autistic narrator, drug use all around, intricate intertwining plots, and a man fascinated in making extreme gonzo like movies. It's just all this weird shit all wound into one and dfw writes it like it's off the top of his head and you feel like you're on speed reading all this in his style of writing

>> No.7139456

Its amazing. It can drag on and really feel at a chore at time but Ive never read anything so homely

>> No.7139458

>>7139456
homely?

>> No.7139488

>>7139448
>You have an autistic narrator
oh good this Yemeni smoke signal gopher server still desperately overuses that word

>> No.7139495
File: 72 KB, 630x891, 1416260475935.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7139495

>>7139263
>Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University[20] called it "just awful" and written with "no discernible talent" (in the novel, Bloom's own work is called "turgid").[21][22]

>> No.7139501

>>7139458
maybe because its contemporary and its the first time a book actually mentions places I've been but it really deals with subjects that hit close to home. The ETA boys were pretty much my highschool friends etc.

>> No.7139522

I lived right where the novel is set, smoked a blunt where joelle van dyne's walks to the party she plans to commit suicide at, and have known lots of people like gately and hal's boys at ETA. As far as capturing the feeling and internal turmoil of being a depressed addict born and raised in Boston it's pitch fucking perfect

>> No.7139523

>>7139263
shitty book for white pasty bois tbh

>> No.7139538

>>7139523
Of course, we have to read something since black people don't write good books.

>> No.7139556

>>7139263
Why don't you read it and find out, you subhuman piece of shit mongoloid.

>> No.7139560

>>7139501
Ok I see what you mean, but homely means unattractive. Just a typo probably, but it's actually "homey".

>> No.7139621

>>7139556

>> No.7139696

I had an insight about it last night that made me realize it's possibly not just the best novel of the 20th century but maybe one of the greatest philosophical books of all time. It's hard to explain, but it points the way out from suffering. Its narrative structure of fractal triangles recalls the Trinity, the way the end wraps around to the beginning recalls the Cycle of Rebirth. And throughout is Socrates' message of "Know thyself." The novel visits as it proceeds all the false gods of happiness that modern culture proposes. The "This is Water" story is actually told by a biker three-quarters through. IJ was about everything in that speech a decade before he delivered it, but few saw it. IJ is a philosophical novel about how to achieve happiness in the modern world.

>> No.7139767

>>7139560
Homely:
proper or suited to the home or to ordinary domestic life; plain; unpretentious:

>> No.7139779

About a third of the way through. It's okay. I second the view that those losing their load haven't read that much. It's pretty obvious actually when you consider how ott their evangelical gush tends to be (witness this thread). I'm mean I fucking love Dante & Aeschylus, but I don't fan girl my knickers to threads over them & can keep a bit of critical distance.

>> No.7139789

>>7139779
>Dante & Aeschylus

Still on that Bloom Western Canon train, huh?

>> No.7139803

I got bored a few pages in. DFW has such an ugly, dyspeptic style. It's almost unbearable.

>> No.7139805

>>7139767
I stand corrected.

>> No.7139811

>>7139263
hm.. well..

i believe there is a lot to be respected about this book

"amazing" is subjective. you'll have to read and find out

>> No.7139818

>>7139789
Do tell me ALL about your post-colonial queer-theory anon.

>> No.7139830

>>7139779
I'm getting increasingly convinced that it's just someone trying their hand at trolling of a more subtle sort than usual. There have been DFW fanboys before but they've never taken it there, whereas these posts which are easy to identify are all of them well over the top.

>> No.7139833

>>7139805
It’s a regional difference.

Britain: (of a place or surroundings) simple but cosy and comfortable, as in one’s own home; simple and unpretentious.

U.S.: (of a person) unattractive in appearance.

>> No.7139835

>>7139803
If you read the whole you'd find out that it's all conceptual and meaningfil

Literally nothing in DFW's works is just showing off or spewing verbose references for the sake of it

Try again in a few years, all pleb filters seem tough at first.

>> No.7139839

>>7139818
Lol, I'm not into theory.

>> No.7139855

>>7139835
>Literally nothing in DFW's works is just showing off or spewing verbose references for the sake of it
Not even DFW's legitimate advocates would ever think to say this tbh

>> No.7139858

>>7139560
I meant homely as in being reminisce of familiar surroundings like ones one home. I never actually heard it being used for unattractive, that's wierd

>> No.7139860

>>7139835
Ok, what's the meaning of the story where the baby gets his dick boiled?

>> No.7139873

>>7139860
It's an examination of the state of panic.

>> No.7139875

>>7139263
Why don't you fucking read it and form your own opinion?

>> No.7139907

>>7139263
It's the Peter Jackson LotR of literature:

Engaging, exciting, long, and somewhat more challenging than most similar releases for a pop audience.

The length and detail make even more enjoyable upon reread, and its quirkiness leads to lots of memery.

>> No.7139919

>>7139263

I'll say again what I say in every single one of these threads: if you're serious about literature, you must read it at some point. It's an impressive work, even if it's not always enjoyable. The writing is amazing at points, but as a whole, I don't know if I'd call it one of the greatest novels.

>> No.7139923

>>7139855
But I am right. The verbosity is explained on page what, 750? Or when was JOI revealed to narrate the thing?
And the references, if you pay attention, help shape of the characters' perceptoon of the world.
>>7139860
b8 or?

>> No.7139938

>>7139263
People like it because it's really fun and pretty easy. If you're used to YA literature, nothing will really feel too strange except for the occasional fun use of big words. Anybody with the time can read and enjoy Infinite Jest.

It's enormously long, and people tend to like it more after they've completed it. See also: Homer and Homestuck

>> No.7139953

>>7139938
>>7139907
>>7139369
Is this samefag?

>> No.7139968

>>7139839
Actual interracial sodomy then. Good for you. My point was that those raving about the book meaning OTHER THINGS and talking about DRUGS or that it will CHANGE YOUR MIND MAN, have clearly not read many other books. It does do all these things to a certain extent, but there are lots & lots of other books which also do this, & many of them do it better. But even those books don't warrant the Fifty Shades of Harry Twilight hysteria that sadly is attached to IJ. DFW would be mortified, probably in a similar vein to JRRT's reaction to the 60s hippies who dribbled the same inanities & hadn't even heard of Beowulf or the Kalevala.

>> No.7140099

>>7139830

These new sincerity dickheads who are talking about how it's a re-affirmation of the human experience are all one or two guys.

They also raid Pynchon threads calling him a stupid stoner and other such things while praising DFW as a genius.

>> No.7140109

>>7140099
Hmmm... I wouldn't call Pynchon a "stupid stoner," but you definitely go to Pynchon for his brain and his funny bone rather than his heart. I think what people get out of Wallace (only read the essays) is that he's all three (heart + brain + funny bone) combined. I think that's what he was trying to do, and as far as I can tell he succeeded.

>> No.7140121

>>7140109

Well, I myself have only read essays also, I just started IJ today, so I'm withholding judgement on Wallace until I finish it, but the gushing about how much heart and sincerity has seems like an elaborate trolling attempt.

>> No.7140190

>>7139696
Yeah, no surprise there. DFW studied Philosophy at Harvard, and his first book deals with a debate between Wittgenstein and Derida.

>> No.7140969

>>7139353
In what way?
like how Schindler's List is an amazing, but also kinda unwatchable movie?