Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, infinite jest bends every rule of fiction without sacrificing for a moment its own entertainment value. The ease of access to satisfaction in the digital age, from smart phone to. The lengthy and complex work takes place in a semiparodic future version of north america, and touches on substance addiction recovery programs, depression, child abuse, family relationships, advertising, popular entertainment, film theory, quebec separatism, and tennis, among other topics. Feb 15, 2016 today, i turned the last page of infinite jest, around a week late for my deadline. There are jokes that take many pages to set up and the pay offs are laugh out loud hilarious. American filmmaker reservoir dogs, pulp fiction tarkovsky, andrey. Infinite jest by david foster wallace free download. Partly since it makes the book more accessible and partly because it lets you enjoy the flow of wallaces prose.
Infinite jest is more or less evenly split between the story of the incandenza family, dysfunctional proprietors of a tennis academy, and that of the residents of a halfway house for addicts. A gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in. David foster wallace has 105 books on goodreads with 844458 ratings. You start the book having no clue when it is happening and who the various characters are. Read infinite jest by david foster wallace available from rakuten kobo. Apr 21, 2017 the latest entry in this medium is an electric lit essay called men recommend david foster wallace to me, where a woman who was told by several men that she might enjoy the infinite jest author. In short, if finnegans wake was a rancid fart that was proudly left to rip, infinite jest is a weak one, lacking sound and odor.
To miss the desperate worshipping hidden beneath the strange, erudite, bellydeep joy of infinite jest is to fall prey to its pleasure. The length of infinite jest should not be an obstacle to finding pleasure in it. While i cant read the book not even the end notes for you. My copy of the book is sawn in three, abused, with smudges of food across its pages, from when i couldnt stop. Infinite jest is one of those books that a lot of people know of but have never read. Books by david foster wallace author of infinite jest. Shakespeares book of insults, insights and infinite jests by william shakespeare and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Infinite jest audiobook by david foster wallace, read by. Wallace wrote to a friend that the fuckers cut by 600 pages from the first version. This index is based on tim wares infinite jest index pregnant pause fact it is wares index except for a few ads ive added and i post it here because the old url at indeed itself has gone to a better place. It is an exuberant, uniquely american exploration of the passions that make us human and one of those rare books that renew the idea of what a novel can do.
Find books like infinite jest from the worlds largest community of readers. Slim fit, order a size up if youd like it less fitting. Not even the masters of the highlow rhetorical register go higher more panoramically or lower more exuberantly than. Hang your posters in dorms, bedrooms, offices, or anywhere blank walls arent welcome. There are those days, after all, that our poor eyes are simply too strained to take in that bedside copy of infinite jest youve been meaning to finish. A gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in america set in an addicts halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwedup family to come along in recent fiction, infinite jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it. In a sprawling, wild, superhyped magnum opus, david foster wallace fulfills the promise of his precocious novel the broom of the system. Audiobooks are a great alternative for those of us who spend the workday with our eyes glued to a computer screen.
Infinite jest npr coverage of infinite jest by david foster wallace. Click and collect from your local waterstones or get free uk delivery on orders over. Ive seldom been more engrossed in a novel, and more willing to put in the time of. Set in an addicts halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwedup family to come along in recent fiction, infinite jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives. Infinite jest is a 1996 novel by david foster wallace. Apr 12, 2012 why i cannot recommend the infinite jest audio book infinite jest i guess this is a first for me and ill get straight to the point. So did i, for the first two or three pages, until i saw the author didnt give a damn.
Also, as a teacher, i look for works that sound related to things we study in class. Infinite jest by david foster wallace, paperback barnes. Sooner or later i had to see what the fuss was about. Last summer, for example, i read the double bind because of its connection with the great gatsby. A novel by wallace, david foster and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Feb 27, 2020 infinite jest is perhaps the great postmodern american novel for many reasons.
Why i cannot recommend the infinite jest audio book. Some early listeners have been disappointed that the novels endnotes are currently available only in text form, to be read. Apr, 2009 a gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in america set in an addicts halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwedup family to come along in recent fiction, infinite jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives. Cdroms were becoming a popular way to distribute software and preinternet computerized encyclopedias and atlases when infinite jest was written, and even then it was predicted that dvdroms or some other videodata disk would eventually supplant them. Alternately tedious and effulgent, infinite jest is set in the near future, specifically in the year of the depend adult undergarment, which would seem to be about 18 years from now. David foster wallaces most popular book is infinite jest. Infinite jest by david foster wallace overdrive rakuten. The novel is widely noted for its unconventional narrative structure and its experimental use of endnotes there are a total of 388 endnotes, some with footnotes of their own. Jul 11, 2016 the final joke of infinite jest is that the book is intended to be almost as endless and mirthful as the addictions it depicts.
If one of your reading resolutions is to finally finish infinite jest, david foster wallaces mammoth novel, im here to help. Wallace seems to almost have predicted the rise of streaming services with interlace, but i am a little confused about the cartridgesdiskettes. Infinite jest is a gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in america. Set in an addicts halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwedup family to come along in recent fiction, infinite jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our.
Navigating its maze of relationships and 400 footnotes could drive even the most seasoned. While i cant read the book not even the end notes for you, i. These are the endnotes to david foster wallaces infinite jest, a gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in america. Feb 01, 2008 somewhere in the notsodistant future the residents of ennet house, a boston halfway house for recovering addicts, and students at the nearby enfield tennis academy are ensnared in the search for the master copy of infinite jest, a movie said to be so dangerously entertaining its viewers become entranced and expire in a state of catatonic bliss. I cant recommend the purchase of the what at first appears to be the amazing ive heard good things about the audio. Infinite jest in the age of addiction the millions. Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, infinite jest bends every rule of fiction, features a huge cast and multilevel narrative, and questions essential elements of american culture our entertainments, our addictions, our relationships, our. We felt that it was important to make infinite jest accessible in the audio format as soon as we were able, and are gratified to find that there is an audience that has been waiting for just this occasion. Not even the masters of the highlow rhetorical register go higher more. Feb 04, 2016 if one of your reading resolutions is to finally finish infinite jest, david foster wallaces mammoth novel, im here to help. Infinite jest by wallace, david foster and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. The latest entry in this medium is an electric lit essay called men recommend david foster wallace to me, where a woman who was told by several men. Producing, promoting, and developing innovative comedy and spoken word entertainment in northern ireland. Infinite jest is a 1996 novel by american writer david foster wallace.
Infinite jest tshirts infinite jest tshirt designs. Feb 01, 1996 admittedly, infinite jest is a tough book. Set in an addicts halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwedup family to come along in recent fiction, the novel explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to dominate our lives, about how our desire for entertainment affects. Infinite jest tshirts on redbubble are expertly printed on ethically sourced, sweatshopfree apparel and available in a huge range of styles, colors and sizes. Infinite jest ebook by david foster wallace rakuten kobo. The novel is widely noted for its unconventional narrative structure and its experimental use of endnotes there are 388 endnotes, some with footnotes of their own. April 25, 2001 david foster wallaces novel infinite jest seems at first to be an unproblematic example of postmodern literary fiction. Infinite jest by wallace, first edition abebooks passion for.
Dec 10, 2010 david foster wallaces infinite jest, a favorite book of many, is the kind of genrebender that will thwart your mind with its convoluted narrative, plethora of allusions and cultural references, and multilateral connections between the characters. David foster wallaces infinite jest, is, without question, the best book ive ever read. Stream and download audiobooks to your computer, tablet or mobile phone. Heres how i finally read infinite jest and how you can, too. A subreddit dedicated to reading david foster wallaces infinite jest over the summer. Buy infinite jest by david foster wallace from waterstones today. As a college english major, ive read my fair share of great literature, and very few authors even approach wallaces ability to entertain, enlighten, mystify or infuriate. In the real world, best known in the name of the nonmusic version of compact discs cdrom. There is stuff that happens in the opening pages that explains events at the end of the book, albeit over pages and hundreds of footnotes away. Part of what makes this publication hard are generous undefined phrases deliberately.
Infinite jest is a genuinely groundbreaking novel of language. Goodreads members who liked infinite jest also liked. Upgrade your style with infinite jest tshirts from zazzle. Infinite jest by david foster wallace turns 20 today, and im still confused by it all these years later.
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