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The Unfinished: David Foster Wallace’s Struggle to Surpass Infinite Jest (2009)

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Re: The Unfinished: David Foster Wallace’s Struggle to Surpass Infinite Jest (2009)

#11

Post by mkmk »

kneel wrote: post #5

Has anyone made an easier to read online version of Infinite Jest? With pop up footnotes so you don't have to flip pages?

The Kindle app + following along with http://infinitejest.wallacewiki.com/david-foster-wallace/ind... in a browser was key for me.

Re: The Unfinished: David Foster Wallace’s Struggle to Surpass Infinite Jest (2009)

#12

Post by praneshp »

jraines wrote: post #9

If anyone is daunted by Infinite Jest but undaunted by the fad of hating DFW, definitely start with his books of essays & journalism. IMO they're a lot more rewarding and enjoyable than his novels. I think E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction is essential reading. (PDF link: https://jsomers.net/DFW_TV.pdf )

Also String Theory (which is a collection of essays about Tennis).

Also, is there a fad of hating him? Do his books have controversial content (like Ayn Rand, for example, who divides people)?

Re: The Unfinished: David Foster Wallace’s Struggle to Surpass Infinite Jest (2009)

#13

Post by bbayles »

briga wrote: post #7

I wonder how the critical reception to The Pale King will evolve over time. In my opinion it's been a bit over-esteemed by fans of DFWs work. It really does feel incomplete, and not just in a Brothers Karamazov sort of way. It lacks a center of gravity, and I never really felt a strong connection with any of the characters. By the end of Infinite Jest the book had become something greater than the sum of its parts, a…

I really enjoyed The Pale King, and felt that had it been finished it would have been one of my favorite books. The chapters with the David Wallace section in the IRS are _really_ funny.

Re: The Unfinished: David Foster Wallace’s Struggle to Surpass Infinite Jest (2009)

#14

Post by savanaly »

andrewfromx wrote: post #2

show of hands, how many HN readers have tried to read Infinite Jest and never made it all the way thru?

I got through it by treating it like a mystery novel. I really did want to find out what the heck was going on both on a plot level as well as where these character arcs were headed. In a superficial way, none of that really gets a good conclusion by the end, but by reading a lot of analysis and discussion by fellow readers I agree with Wallace when he said that most of the story is there, you just have to do considerable reading between the lines. To me, that's thrilling.

Re: The Unfinished: David Foster Wallace’s Struggle to Surpass Infinite Jest (2009)

#15

Post by savanaly »

kneel wrote: post #5

Has anyone made an easier to read online version of Infinite Jest? With pop up footnotes so you don't have to flip pages?

It's not so bad in dead tree form if you use two bookmarks (one for the main text, one for the endnotes).

Re: The Unfinished: David Foster Wallace’s Struggle to Surpass Infinite Jest (2009)

#16

Post by arethuza »

andrewfromx wrote: post #2

show of hands, how many HN readers have tried to read Infinite Jest and never made it all the way thru?

I did make it through, mostly, I didn't get the sections about the Québécois separatist group so might not have read those in as much detail as the others - everything else I loved.

Mind you - I've never re-read it which is something I usually do a lot with books I really love (must have read Anathem 7 or 8 times).

Re: The Unfinished: David Foster Wallace’s Struggle to Surpass Infinite Jest (2009)

#17

Post by tannhauser23 »

jraines wrote: post #9

If anyone is daunted by Infinite Jest but undaunted by the fad of hating DFW, definitely start with his books of essays & journalism. IMO they're a lot more rewarding and enjoyable than his novels. I think E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction is essential reading. (PDF link: https://jsomers.net/DFW_TV.pdf )

Wait, what fad of hating him?

Re: The Unfinished: David Foster Wallace’s Struggle to Surpass Infinite Jest (2009)

#18

Post by Idontagree »

tannhauser23 wrote: post #17
jraines wrote: post #9

If anyone is daunted by Infinite Jest but undaunted by the fad of hating DFW, definitely start with his books of essays & journalism. IMO they're a lot more rewarding and enjoyable than his novels. I think E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction is essential reading. (PDF link: https://jsomers.net/DFW_TV.pdf )

Wait, what fad of hating him?

He was like essential hip college freshman reading, which often comes with being hated for being popular, weird, abstract, etc. I havn't actually read the book, but I've certainly heard about it.

Re: The Unfinished: David Foster Wallace’s Struggle to Surpass Infinite Jest (2009)

#19

Post by actuallyalys »

praneshp wrote: post #12
jraines wrote: post #9

If anyone is daunted by Infinite Jest but undaunted by the fad of hating DFW, definitely start with his books of essays & journalism. IMO they're a lot more rewarding and enjoyable than his novels. I think E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction is essential reading. (PDF link: https://jsomers.net/DFW_TV.pdf )

Also String Theory (which is a collection of essays about Tennis). Also, is there a fad of hating him? Do his books have controversial content (like Ayn Rand, for example, who divides people)?

If there's a fad, it's a small one. My sense is that people have been more critical than they were immediately after his death, but that's not really hating, just retrospection.

Re: The Unfinished: David Foster Wallace’s Struggle to Surpass Infinite Jest (2009)

#20

Post by rockostrich »

hbosch wrote: post #8
kneel wrote: post #5

Has anyone made an easier to read online version of Infinite Jest? With pop up footnotes so you don't have to flip pages?

You might like a Kindle.

I wouldn't recommend reading it on Kindle unless they made it easier. 2 bookmarks and a physical copy is the way to go.
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