Reading Goal #1 (June 5) - up to p. 49: Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment

[Chris]

There's a few spoilers popping up on the Facebook page. Thought I'd try to encourage some of that discussion to move over to Goodreads threads so it's not popping up on your Facebook feed.

Using Davy's reading schedule as a guideline, it'd be nice to look at each reading goal as we move through (though it seems there are many that are way ahead!).

This is my second attempt at reading Infinite Jest and I'm much more comfortable in my shoes with it. I feel as well that I'm picking up a lot of things that I didn't the first time. I think I was too concentrated on finding my footing and figuring out how the narrative was unfolding and how all these characters fit together. I think knowing a little about the characters from my first attempt has helped me sort things out a bit. I only made it to page 320 on my first attempt, so I don't know everything that DFW has in store for me, but I at least know to relax about feeling lost and to let it wash over me.

What do you think about the first 50 pages of Infinite Jest? Favourite moments? Any points of confusion? Feel like you're missing something?

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I am wondering about the now repeating chapter titles. Are the years named in this way for everyone in the society, or does the "Year of the X" come from one of the characters? I thought at first it was from Hal or Orin, but then at the end of some of these chapters, other characters' stories start to bleed in, with brief mentions or updates on their actions.

[Chris]

Yes, probably a good idea to wait before flipping to that page, but once you're there, flag it for reference.

[Alison]

He makes reference to it earlier in the book during the footnotes for James Incandenza and the films he has made. Some of the years of the films are not specified because they were "before subsidization". The years have actually been bought by companies, but I don't know what this means but it sure is hilarious to be referring to the year of the depends undergarment and the year of the Whopper. Just chuckling whenever a new year comes up. Think of the possibilities!

[Alec]

I do not think this can be regarded as a spoiler.
There is one year with an extremely long name (possibly the only one with a non-hygiene-related product line) and an inconsistency in it, which is flagged by DFW (?) by an added "(sic)". The cool thing is that this "(sic)" makes its way into the abbreviation as "(s)" in italics. Look out for it.