Schedule for Discussions - Infinite Jest

[Jim]

This is our planned reading and discussion schedule for David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. Page numbers are from the Back Bay Books 2006 edition.

Each week for 10 weeks, we’ll read about 100 pages or so. Week 11 brings us into the Christmas holiday and will be for our conclusions about the book as a whole. I’ve included some beginning text at each of the break points for those who are using ereaders. As you probably already know, in addition to the 981 pages that comprise this novel, Wallace includes 98 pages of numbered end notes. There are superscript numbers scattered throughout the novel indicating where to break and read the referenced end note. Get your bookmarks ready…

Week One – October 15, 2012
Page 3 – 109

Week Two – October 22, 2012
Page 109 – 198
Begins: 3 NOVEMBER Y.D.A.U. ‘Because none of them really meant any of it,’ Hal tells Kent Blott.

Week Three – October 29, 2012
Page 198 – 299
Begins: 6 NOVEMBER YEAR OF THE DEPEND ADULT UNDERGARMENT 1610h. Weight Room.

Week Four – November 5, 2012
Page 299 – 398
Begins: 14 NOVEMBER YEAR OF THE DEPEND ADULT UNDERGARMENT Poor Tony Krause had a seizure on the T.

Week Five - November 12, 2012
Page 398 – 491
Begins: FREAK STATUE OF LIBERTY ACCIDENT KILLS FED ENGINEER – Header;

Week Six – November 19, 2012
Page 491 – 593
Begins: WINTER, B.S. 1963, SEPULVEDA CA I remember I was eating lunch and reading something dull by Bazin

Week Seven – November 26, 2012
Page 593 – 698
Begins: Live-in Staffers’ duties are divided pretty evenly between the picayune and the unpleasant.

Week Eight – December 3, 2012
Page 698 – 808
Begins: 14 NOVEMBER YEAR OF THE DEPEND ADULT UNDERGARMENT Ms. Ruth van Cleve’s first day off new residents’ three-day House Restriction.

Week Nine – December 10, 2012
Page 809 – 902
Begins: The ceiling was breathing. It bulged and receded.

Week Ten – December 17, 2012
Page 902 – 981
Begins: Gately’s cognomen growing up and moving through public grades had been Bim or Bimmy, or The Bimulator, etc, from the acronymic B.I.M., ‘Big Indestructible Moron.’

Week Eleven – December 24, 2012
Conclusions/Book as a whole

IMPORTANT: These discussion threads will remain open indefinitely. If you find yourself behind in the reading or if you have joined the group after the dates listed above, go ahead and read at your own pace and discuss when you want. The moderator and other members will gladly join in!