Infinite jest as infinite jest a supposedly fun blog. Last year, having never progressed beyond the books first chapter. The audiobook is in three parts, with part three just being the notes. Part 1 to be a well written buddy road trip book, some may feel it is a christian leaning religious tome, some may think it is a supernatural or science fiction morality tale and in all those cases, it would be a very entertaining read worthy of ones time. It all started with a post called 1088 reasons you should read infinite jest. The programme also contains some rare archive reflections by a young david foster wallace, recorded a year before the publication of infinite jest, on the role of the writer in an age of media. Why i cannot recommend the infinite jest audio book. Because of his schedule, pratt had to record it in sections, interspaced by the other books he was narrating. 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. Infinite jest by david foster wallace audiobook 17 youtube.
On sunday, i named infinite jest as a book readers can benefit from dipping into, even if they never read it straight through to the end. So, about two years ago i began reading infinite jest and i only got about 200 pages in before it was due back to the library. This man reads infinite jest and no one cares youtube. One of the best things you can do right now is stay inside and read infinite jest.
After twenty years, david foster wallaces grand overture on humans and addiction, infinite jest, has only become more powerful. Jun 06, 2017 a heartbreaking true story of a man who reads infinite jest without constant pats on the back. A 16yearold tennis phenom who became a legend when he threatened to shoot himself if he ever lost a game. Part i with a foreword by dave eggers audible audiobook. And then the following three that are released 0420, the first being infinite jest. The broom of the system audiobook by david foster wallace. The recursive spiral of recursion is really hard to avoid with dfw to the point you think it is the point, which, of course, is itself recursive. Feb 26, 2016 12 if you think infinite jest at 1,100odd pages is a long book, be advised that it started longer. I bought the audiobook but i also bought the kindle version to help with the notes because they are an integral part of the story. One of the best books about addiction and recovery to appear in recent memory.
David foster wallaces infinite jest is an audiobook. The chronology of his life is not overly difficult to trace, because david foster wallace provides a code for the years that can be used to map out the events. But the most addictive force in infinite jest is a seemingly innocuous videotape referred to simply as the entertainment. Hal is sure that he himself will win, and that he will play either stice or. I count infinite jest as one of the books that ive started to read, but never. Infinite jest by wallace, david foster and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. One of the most powerful descriptions of suicide ive ever.
Infinite jest by david foster wallace audiobook 17. Why i cannot recommend the infinite jest audio book infinite jest. Part i with a foreword by dave eggers that is 28 hrs mins, second one being infinite jest. Infinite jest audiobook david foster wallace audible. Hunghanged himself in his garage from his patio i believe apparently. Infinite jest does begin as hals story, but it makes no promises of remaining so.
Absolutely, for the novice to this type of literary fiction, i cannot tell you how many times i have started and given up on the actual book. 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. Incandenza filmography interpretations and other infinite jest inspired works online. Beyond the ease with which one can lookup footnotes, consider the following. He was also a tragic figure, hanging himself when changing antidepressants in 2008. Once a confidently fast reader, i found myself reading at the pace of a person learning a foreign language.
I think if you do the work and are honest with the information and implications there are no wrong answers regarding infinite jest. Part ii thats 28 hrs and 54 mins, and then finally the third being infinite jest, part iii. Infinite jest is a 1996 novel by american writer david foster wallace. Partly since it makes the book more accessible and partly because it lets you enjoy the flow of wallaces prose. In the real world, best known in the name of the nonmusic version of compact discs cdrom. Only david foster wallace could convey a fathers desperate loneliness by way of his sons daydreaming through. The year is 1990 and the place is a slightly altered cleveland. I was going to wait on it, but not that even infinite summer is talking about the end. The author is highly imitative of pynchons gravitiys rainbow without. Some of the notes have footnotes themselves, and one of them is a lengthy filmography. Infinite jest iv, zero gravity tea ceremony, the medusa v. What its like to record the audiobook version of infinite. Infinite jest characters from litcharts the creators of. Oct 19, 2016 every time i read infinite jest, i wonder how much of it is basically autobiographical with a thin veneer of difference and a heap of really, really tight prose.
Check out our revolutionary sidebyside summary and analysis. Heres how i finally read infinite jest and how you can, too. The dazzling, exhilarating san francisco chronicle debut novel from the bestselling author of infinite jest, available for the first time as an audiobook. And the bouncing backandforth is a feature, not a bug.
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. It is an exuberant, uniquely american exploration of the passions that make us human and one of those rare books that renew. Goodreads members who liked infinite jest also liked. David foster wallaces infinite jest is an audiobook, minus. Infinite jest by david foster wallace, first edition, signed abebooks. So did i, for the first two or three pages, until i saw the author didnt give a damn. I have not eliminated infinite jest s map, but i have walked its length. 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. On reading the first chapter of infinite jest sally allen. Part i with a foreword by dave eggers to be better than the print version.
Most of the action of the novel takes place in the year of the depend. I kind of strongly disagree with alexs post about the endnotes. Steven asin infinite jest is the perfect book for the kindle paperwhite. It is the most fun book of this length that i have ever read. I cant recommend the purchase of the what at first appears to be the amazing ive heard good things about the audio. Infinite jest characters from litcharts the creators of sparknotes. I think what you say about infinite summer is quite interesting. David foster wallace infinite jest audiobook part 3. David foster wallace february 21, 1962 september 12, 2008 was an american author of novels, short stories and essays, as well as a university professor of english and creative writing. 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. Academics explain david foster wallace to me the outline. The novels title is from hamlet, act v, scene 1, in which hamlet holds the. Na have you listened to any of sean pratts other performances before. Why i cannot recommend the infinite jest audio book infinite jest i guess this.
Find books like infinite jest from the worlds largest community of readers. These are the endnotes to david foster wallaces infinite jest, a gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in america. This is water this is water some thoughts, delivered on a significant occasion, about living a compassionate life 14th april 2009 amazon info this is waterpublishers weekly little, brown plans wallace book for spring hachette book group this is water. Wallace was exhaustively and intersectionally flayed for another 20 or so minutes. It would have been annoying to pull up a pdf each time what other book might you compare infinite jest, part iii. Infinite jest is a 1996 novel by david foster wallace. David foster wallace was a crowning genius when he wrote the endnotes footnotes for infinite jest. The depressed person by david foster wallace 1998 pdf. He did though, leave behind a hugely impressive body of work and infinite jest, in my opinion, having read everything he has written over the years, is his crowning glory. Would you consider the audio edition of infinite jest. Wallace is widely known for his 1996 novel infinite jest, which time magazine cited as one of the 100 best englishlanguage novels from 1923 to 2005. Has anyone here found that infinite jest helped them in part recover from an addiction, or changed.
Since its publication, the world has moved past the events and years of the novels shaky mid2000s dystopian world. The passage above is part of a considerably longer discussion of suicide, which i think addresses some of the things you mentioned. But as he immerses himself in a routine so tedious and repetitive that new. Infinite jest is one of those books that a lot of people know of but have never read. The novel derives its name in part from a line in hamlet, in which hamlet refers to the skull of yorick, the court jester. Pamphile, quebec avril mondragons grandfather decides to invest in delawarebrand punch instead of cocacola. This week i started rereading infinite jest by david foster wallace. This performance by sean pratt is really humorous, sad and entertaining. 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. Infinite jest chapter 1, year of glad, and chapter 2, year. Infinite jest in the age of addiction the millions.
Infinitejest submitted 2 years ago by artifexr today, i finished infinite jest after working on it for about 9 months with a friend. Endnotes david foster wallace bbc documentary youtube. If one of your reading resolutions is to finally finish infinite jest, david foster wallaces mammoth novel, im here to help. Part i with a foreword by dave eggers, david foster wallace. Part i with a foreword by dave eggers audiobook by david foster wallace. Infinite jest is a gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in america. If youre used to the audiobook of infinite jest, the transition to the audio endnotes is ideal. Infinite jest by david foster wallace by ted gioia the new canon a failed entertainment. Infinite jest by david foster wallace audiobook 1 7 duration. 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. In terms of pages spanned, there are two main plots that are on the whole fairly disjoint. At the center of the broom of the system is the betwitching and also bewildered heroine, lenore stonecipher beadsman. Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, infinite jest bends every rule of fiction without sacrificing for a moment its own entertainment value. Infinite jest audiobook by david foster wallace, read by.
An even better thing you can do is give some money to meals on wheels. Infinite jest does feature hal as a central protagonist, and it ends with him in the first scene. Infinite summer blog archive how to read infinite jest. 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. Sep 10, 2016 its been a bit of a journey on this one. Infinite jest, which came out almost a decade after broom, was a vast investigation into america as the land of addictions. Without endnotes, the audiobook version of infinite jest ends up being around 56 hours. Tom bissell and the editor michael pietsch discuss infinite jest.
It is two of my best friends favorite book, and one of them actually mailed me a copy to get me to read it. 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. You start the book having no clue when it is happening and who the various characters are. Wallace struggled with addictions and mental illness and killed himself a couple years after infinite jest was published. Infinite jest is a grandly ambitious, wickedly comic epic on par with such great, sprawling novels of the twentieth century as ulysses, the recognitions, and gravitys rainbowwith a sophisticated lexicon and mesmerizing syntax reminiscent of william gaddis and william t. Infinite jest audiobook by david foster wallace 9781609418120. Infinite jest audiobook, written by david foster wallace. Wallace wrote to a friend that the fuckers cut by 600 pages from the first version. 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. Feb 01, 1996 admittedly, infinite jest is a tough book. Vollmann, infinite jest is our most thorough dissection of america. Events mentioned or described in infinite jest 1996 are listed below in chronological order based on textual evidence. This book is wandering, selfindulgent, overwritten, and gives ample evidence that the academics and literati are captivated by the deranged workings of a damaged mind wallace struggled with addictions and mental illness and killed himself a couple years after infinite jest was published. Need help with chapter 1 in david foster wallaces infinite jest.
It has been categorized as an encyclopedic novel and made time magazines list of the 100 best englishlanguage novels published. 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. Infinite jest by david foster wallace, first edition, signed. Oct 18, 2016 infinite jest explores the idea that all humans are addicts and examines how the chosen drugs particularly entertainment of late 20th century americans eat them alive. Stream and download audiobooks to your computer, tablet or mobile phone.
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. We lost a great giant when he stepped down from the throne. Wallace himself, as the note doesnt mention, was a recovering alcoholic. 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. Theyre only getting infinite jest preloaded on mp3 players, so it will be worth spending the credits to get that one downloadable. In the stories that make up oblivion, david foster wallace joins the rawest, most naked humanity with the infinite involutions of selfconsciousnessa combination that is dazzlingly, uniquely his. About the entertainment, joelle, orin, and himself. One thing about ij is that there really isnt one coherent plot.
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