Infinite Jest
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Infinite jest- to read???
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message 51:
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David
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rated it 5 stars
Dec 03, 2012 11:38AM
THANK YOU!!!
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You sir, are welcome :) PS I'm reading The devil all the time. so far so good, you ever read it???
No - who is the author?
donald ray pollack. do check it out.
Marked as to-read. Thanks for the tip.
No problem, although the more I get into it the more disturbing it's turning out to be. I put it aside. Now i'm doubting my recommendation. Oh well. Maybe you'll like it :)
Can you suggest anything slightly lighter? A rom-com perhaps?
have you read Where'd you go, bernadette? ? OMG. funny. not so much rom but def com.
After the workshop was good too.
Anything by Jonathan Tropper is good. Come, Thou Tortoise by jessica grant is odd but ext good. and I suck at Girls by justin halpern was funny.
the 100 year old man who climbed out a window and disappeared was funny and very swedish.
Think I'm gonna watch 'Peep Show' instead. It's weird British humour - not sure if you'll get it...
Peep Show was awesome - you should check it out. Relates well to the state of publishing today.
peep show? hmmm okay will check it out if I can find it online
You should also check out The Fall of Charlie Dixon by the promising young author David Couldrey...
David, I will do it perhaps you can send me a copy?????
Brilliant, hilarious and depressingly beautiful—DFW was the best writer of our generation and IJ is worth the struggle. I promise you will enjoy it—as long as you can get yourself 100+ pages into it.here are two of my favorite passages:
‘So this purports to be a disease, alcoholism? A disease like a cold? Or like cancer? I have to tell you, I have never heard of anyone being told to pray for relief from cancer. Outside maybe certain very rural parts of the American South, that is. So what is this? You’re ordering me to pray? Because I allegedly have a disease? I dismantle my life and career and entered nine months of low-income treatment for a disease, and I’m prescribed prayer? Does the word retrograde signify? Am I in a sociohistorical era I don’t know about? What exactly is the story here?’
—David Foster Wallace, /Infinite Jest/ (1996)
‘The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you.’ ‘There is much fear in fame. Terrible and heavy fear to be pulled and held, carried.’ […] ‘Do not believe the photographs. Fame is not the exit from any cage.’ ‘So I’m stuck in the cage from either side. Fame or tortured envy of fame. There’s no way out.’
—David Foster Wallace, /Infinite Jest/ (1996)
Ha! Joe,I love those. I am still waiting for the book. Sometimes Amazon is slow, not that I don't have anything to read in the meantime because I do. I have some 45 books stacked on my bedside table screaming at me. I am looking forward to this epic TOME.
Just came home with two copies as xmas presents!
Woo hey. Hooooooo!!! Merry xmas to me!!!
Just got "the last interview" with DFW-- it's depressingly poignant and worth the $7 at the strand
is that something you think will be at the library?? I am def. interested in that. I feel for the guy, why are so many brilliant writers suicidal? because they feel something else, know something else?
I can't understand how anyone would find this funny, especially with the incredible foreshadowing of his suicide and his rejection of the all too popular notion that it is a cowardly, selfish act. I found myself fascinated by the writer and devoured any lectures or interviews on you tube when I learned about his life (and death). I love cynical, dark writers - Love Bukowski, Celine. Grew up with the sarcasm, wit, edgy, "never believe anything until it's been officially denied" style of Tom Robbins, Vonegut. Love Eggar's "truth is stranger than fiction" attitude. For me, this book is downright sad, especially in hindsight. There are a great series of interviews available on Youtube.... Wallace on on Charlie Rose before his death, and I felt a bit vindicated to hear his puzzlement over the reviews describing the book as "funny". He was funny, smart, pulled no punches- like Hitchens declares "You think you've read it all... I've forgotten more than most people have read".... All sweaty & fidgity - sporting a bandana. Anyway had to put it down half way through....
I still haven't been able to start it. It's like my thing I'm procrastinating on... well I am procrastinating on many things but as for reading I'm pretty particular and once I find myself immersed in something there's this order that follows of other books that fall naturally after what I'm currently reading so I'm wondering at what point I.J. will be appropriate in my "sequence" of books. I'm going to check out the other authors you mentioned though as I like that type of writing sometimes when I'm in the mood.
Regardless of DFW’s tragic end, Infinite Jest is still very funny, sad and fucking brilliant. "The joke’s theory was there’s no audience and no director and no stage or set because, The Mad Stork and his cronies argued, in Reality there are none of these things. And the protagonist doesn’t know he’s the protagonist in a Found Drama because in Reality nobody thinks they’re in any sort of Drama."
This was the response given by James Incandenza addressing the outrage over the release of his film, “The Joke”; in which there is literally nothing projected onto the screen other than the reflections lost in reflection ad infinitum: mirrors enclose the audience from all sides. This ultimately places the viewer(s) within an infinitely divisible multiplicity of reflection. However, the joke of the film, “The Joke” is never realized; similar to Wallace’s essay on Kafka’s underlying joke: the joke about that joke in the story is what alleviates existential horror, according to Wallace.
A self-proclaimed flawless beauty so attractive that every man she meets falls in love with her—conflicting to Molly Notkin’s account of her friend’s gruesome facial disfigurement (Molly Notkin is a “pre-doctoral scholar of Film & Film Cartridge Theory at M.I.T.” However, she has an “unhinged” eccentric personality, thus her veracity is probably unreliable)—the suicidal actress, Joelle van Dyne (a.k.a. Madame Psychosis), permanently hides her face behind a veil. Joelle is a member of the “Union of the Hideously and Improbably Deformed (U.H.I.D.)” and is also known as “The Prettiest Girl of All Time” (P.G.O.A.T.)—Wallace’s preferred acronym when referring to the veiled enigma, the star of “Infinite Jest” (the film):
“I used to go around saying the veil was to disguise lethal perfection, that I was too lethally beautiful for people to stand. It was a kind of joke I’d gotten from one of his entertainments, the Medusa-Odalisk thing. That even in U.H.I.D. I hid by hiddenness, in denial about the deformity itself. So Jim took a failed piece and told me it was too perfect to release—it’d paralyze people. It was entirely clear that it was an ironic joke. To me.’"
Joelle van Dyne is only the lead role in “Infinite Jest,” but she, “Madame Psychosis,” stars in all other productions made by James O. Incandenza, who, consequently, gave Joelle the alias that she bears: “Madame Psychosis” (c.f. metempsychosis). “The Prettiest Girl of All Time” attempted suicide by intentionally overdosing herself using freebase cocaine while in Molly Notkin’s bathroom. Like similar fates met by the suicidal and drug-addicted characters of Infinite Jest, Joelle was heavily addicted to cocaine eventually leading to her successful suicide.
Shortly after his decision to become sober, James Incandenza committed suicide: Apparently the sober reality of living out his existence, beyond the bottle(s) where he ensconced himself daily (as it were), was absolutely unbearable. Intercepting this tragic calamity, the lonely and “eidetic” Hal Incandenza, the youngest of the three Incandenza brothers, must consult with a “grief-therapist” as a result from the alleged psychological trauma Hal endured: i.e. dealing with his father’s suicide. Notwithstanding the gruesome fact that his father, James, killed himself by placing his head into a microwave shortly after finishing his film, “Infinite Jest.”
A month prior to this event, James had tried to quit drinking, which ironically made him more depressed: ultimately deciding that life without Wild Turkey whiskey (i.e. an inebriated reality) was not worth living as Hal, involuntarily, explains to his therapist: “ ‘It had nothing to do with killing himself. Less than nothing to do with it.’ […] ‘He’d stopped being drunk all the time. That killed him. He couldn’t take it but he’d made a promise.’ ”
"Joelle cuts off his interjection and says that but that her trouble with it is that ‘But For the Grace of God’ is a subjunctive, a counterfactual, she says and can make sense only when introducing a conditional clause, like e.g. ‘But For the Grace of God I would have died on Molly Notkin’s bathroom floor,’ so that an indicative transposition like […] she says, literally senseless, and regardless of whether she hears it or not it’s meaningless”
As for the sad / depressing impasse these two quotes from DFW I’ve always found poignant:‘The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you.’ […] ‘There is much fear in fame. Terrible and heavy fear to be pulled and held, carried.’ […] ‘Do not believe the photographs. Fame is not the exit from any cage.’ ‘So I’m stuck in the cage from either side. Fame or tortured envy of fame. There’s no way out.’
—David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest (1996)
The capital-T Truth is about life BEFORE death. It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time.
—David Foster Wallace, “This is Water” (2005)
i am stumped..but also in awe... but definitely flummoxed.
How was your Christmas Sarah?
Christmas was great! Always is, just love that fluttering holiday spirit.. wish it was all year around but then it would lose it's meaning. How was yours?
Yeah pretty good thanks. Back at uni now tho :( :)
jealous
How was your Valentine's Day Sarah?
Hi David, thanks for asking. My valentine's day was bittersweet. My mother just passed away and I received her ashes first thing in the morning before work. The rest of the day was hectic but fine and I gorged on a big sundae for dinner. how was yours?
Thanks, Joe...I just couldn't finish a book which was confusing to me, having my skull just split in half by a complete stranger ( a drunk Army Brat) .... It was a daunting task, having seizures, memory and vision loss, panic attacks. All the footnotes.... The plot construction.... It hurt a bit.
I'd open it up at random and would read the anecdote of the old man who slipped, hit his head, and as a result became horribly depressed until he killed himself. it was like looking in the mirror...... or his description of suicide not as selfish, but of the poor person in the window of a burning building having to choose the less painful option.....
Three of my best friends had died suddenly, my girlfriend was hospitalized for two years. Sweet, healthy, happy, witty, adventurous. Within a week she became so schizophrenic she would not talk to me. (I was working in Greece for two months at the time) Lost my house and cars. Huge medical bills.
Time to get lost in War and Peace or Homer...... Lest I'll go nuts.
Let me tell you, that was a read I had been looking for, but it was too close to home. Three friends sent me obscure books at the same time, uplifting, light stuff, and I kid you not, upon googling every one of the writers ( and DFW) They had all killed themselves. My friends felt BAD.
Also I too having lost three dear friends, house credit, fiancé, and support had just given up drinking.... And absolutely agree with and adore his quote on AA's idiotic, self defeating, replacement therapy. I went to a few meetings out of desperation, and would never ever introduce myself as an addict or drunk because I found it to be a self fulfilling prophecy, not to mention I was clean finally.
"And what are you Mark....?"
I'm a sound recordist, succulent growing traveller and banjo player..... And oddly not an alcoholic anymore"
Silence....
Condescending giggles.
Usually, at that point I was asked not to share, until I was honest with myself....and God.
God, what hateful creepy shit. Except for one of the senior members who gave me a Valium from time to time.
So thanks for the plot insights. Thanks for the humor too. Obviously I can relate to him on an emotional
Level, but also love how sardonic and honest he is.....I can't tell you how many friends have confided. " we all love you for your wit and sarcasm, but in the old days you'd quote Fred Sanford and Kierkegaard in the same breath. You have been crossing the line from witty sarcasm to dark sardonic loathing since your attack. Not many people appreciate how honest and visceral your humor has become.....Like Dennis Miller without the laughs.
I just quote Popeye.
One of the same guys was curious about Anthony Bordain off camera. Anthony was here in Austin, and ate at his friends restaurant for an episode and said "I just hope he wasn't an asshole and curmudgeon after wrap".
I was pissed, and defensive because I I admire and I love everything about the guy. He is just a funny street wise, world worn New Yorker. I love it when in the heat of Vietnam, the beer is warm, and he is so crushed..... Or his cigarette breaks or nostalgia for "the days when a a gram of coke was not a bad idea, and actually a decent investment" . That is my dream job, and was about to beg to join the crew, but he doesn't bring a sound mixer.
He reminds me of you, always quoting Bukowski poems. That can alienate you"
Silence.
I had to have the last word: "You don't like the humor. I love it. You grew up skiing, we grew up in the North East" Life looks very different from those perspectives."
Anyway, I knew he needed to read Wallace ASAP. Christmas was coming.
Please give me your opinion of his best material. I need to start over, and the reviews are not very consistent.
Again thanks for those quotes, smiles are rare these days..... And check out his interview with Charlie Rose online, taped upon the release of IJ. In my opinion, his reality is more intriguing than any fiction could be.
What a clever tortured guy ..... I can relate.
At least my nickname is "the happy cynic"- Well it used to be anyway.
Peace Joe, You made good sense. Wear a helmet if you ride. I may have questions down the road.
Mark
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