Discussion Ten– Infinite Jest - Page 902 - 981 / Conclusions

[Jim]

This discussion covers Page 902 – 981 and Conclusions/Book as a whole


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.’”

And so we arrive at the “end” of Infinite Jest

We begin this week with a guided tour of Gately’s gateway drugs. Pemulis insists on a mano-à-tête with Hal, Stat! A brief introduction to Whitey Sorkin’s Twin Towers. Fax has a dilaudid dilemma. Steeply strong-arms Joelle. Gately and Fackelmann scale Mt. Dilaudid. Joelle plays 20 Questions with Steeply. Hal relocates his horizontality to his dorm room. Old Mikey hits the mike. A.D.A. for Suffolk County 4th circuit interfaces with Pat M. re: Amends with Gately. Mario extends a hand to Barry Loach. Orin gets a bug’s eye view of the situation. C and his crew show up for a luxury apartment party. Gately wakes up on the beach. Fin…



NOTE: This week, 5/18, is our final discussion of the book as a whole. I’d like to ask everyone to re-read the opening section “Year of Glad” pp. 3 – 16 for our discussion. Much like a film noir of the 1940’s or 50’s where the protagonist has reached some crisis point of capture, impending doom, or death, IJ opens on a scene of distress in a University of Arizona conference room. The entire story takes place one year, and more, prior to the opening. With this in mind, we can try and figure out what to make of this story without end, and what might have happened during that missing year.