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/lit/ - Literature

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9654024 No.9654024 [Reply] [Original]

I know it's often considered a "meme book" on here, but is Infinite Jest genuinely worth reading and if so what should I read/research first? Other than Hamlet ofc

>> No.9654031

>>9654024
Just read it dude. You'll be fine. It's pretty good, and you don't need to research anything first. If you legitimately get stuck on a point, you can look it up.

>> No.9654034

>>9654024
I really don't think there's a set list of books you should read before IJ. If you want to read it, just read it. You won't gain anything from discussing whether or not to read it on an imageboard.
I personally enjoyed it. But if you're really not into maximalist novels, you're going to have a bad time.

>> No.9654040

>>9654031
This. It's worth reading if only so you can form your own opinion about it.

>> No.9654064

you don't need to read Hamlet to understand this book. you should read Hamlet because Hamlet is fucking great.

honestly anyone claiming to make sense of this book as anything other than a preachy addiction novel is a fucking liar.
>there's so much going on. it's so dense
no, almost none of the elements other than the drug related stuff has any time spent on it. they're almost all one-offs, a single section. the exception is the stuff about tennis, which, by the way has even less to do with the rest of the novel as most of the irrelevant aspects of it. dfw was a tennis player and a """weed addict""". that's the whole novel

>> No.9654070

>>9654064
Do you really not see how the tennis parts tie in with the rest of the novel?

>> No.9654082

>>9654070
explain it to me, faggot.

explain why if you deleted all the tennis bits the rest of the novel would be affected you blithering idiot

>> No.9654121

>>9654024
If there's one thing one ought to read before tackling Infinite Jest it would be 'The Question Concerning Technology". Verily Heidegger there gets at an essence that appears to my mind to be THE through line of IJ.

Not essential, just an ought.

>> No.9654127
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9654127

>>9654082
tfw when u dont knw subtxt of esketin

>> No.9654131
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9654131

>>9654082
seriously though, DFW had to seperate the l33t from the chaffe somehow.

>> No.9654138

>>9654082
You could probably write multiple essays on this (and I'm sure there are plenty out there if you go looking). But, to put it briefly, the role of habit/compulsion as a tool for positive character development and exploration of the self provides a contrast to their role as self-destructive forces, as seen in the parts mainly focused around substance abuse. Of course, the tennis players also engage in certain self-destructive habits (there's kind of always a yin to every yang with these things). I mean, that's only one theme, but it's probably the most prominent, and has the most parallels with the rest of the novel.

>> No.9654141

>>9654082
I really hope you're trolling, friend. Nobody should be forced to be this dumb. Did you even read the novel?

>> No.9654156

>>9654127
>>9654131
>>9654141
typical lazy pseud evasions.

>>9654138
exactly, retard. you undermined what you tried to say almost immediately.
>there's kind of always a yin to every yang with these things
in other words, your attempt to make sense of that part of the novel holds little to no water.

>> No.9654165

>>9654156
>in other words, your attempt to make sense of that part of the novel holds little to no water.

It's not an instruction manual.

>> No.9654196

>>9654024
http://www.cosmoetica.com/B326-DES266.htm

>> No.9654228

>>9654156
You mean the fact the characters aren't uniformly virtuous or sinful is a bad thing? Would it be simpler if you were spoon-fed the themes through boring, two-dimensional characters?

>> No.9654237

>>9654228
To go further into it, you can think of the tennis players as living primarily virtuous lives, whilst being pulled down into sin by substance addiction. The characters at the AA meetings have, by contrast, primarily lived sinful lives (due to substance addictions), but are trying to pursue more virtuous lives by forming positive habits/compulsions.
You've got the yin eating the tail of the yang and the yang eating the tail of the yin. Take either out and the story is incomplete.

>> No.9654268

>>9654024
no

>> No.9654276

The Broom of the System reads like a pretentious creative writing student trying very, very hard to be clever and experimental and literary.

Is infinite Jest better in this regard?

>> No.9654348

>>9654024
I genuinely gave it a 3/5 on goodreads.

>> No.9654396

>>9654276
I haven't read The Broom of the System, but that describes Infinite Jest pretty well. Halfway in he just kind of gives up the experimental writing styles and the book is better for it. Honestly, while the prose is bad and DFW tries way too hard sometimes, it's a good—but not great—novel and worth reading if you have the time.