The novel infinite jest is the story of this addictive entertainment, and in particular how it affects a boston halfway house for recovering addicts and a nearby tennis academy, whose students have many budding addictions of their own. Essays and arguments, brief interviews with hideous men. They are very different books from each other, and most of all from infinite jest. Infinite jest, by david foster wallace, is the worst science fiction novel ever written. Although his books can be uproariously, laughoutloud funny, a dark threnody of. Infinite jest is notoriously known for being a long book its just shy of 1100 pages. Buy hardcover copy of infinite jest at brickandmortar bookstore. Books similar to david foster wallaces infinite jest. Not a great segment, but posted here for dfwmedia completists. Max revisits david foster wallaces infinite jest twenty years after. Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, infinite jest bends every rule of fiction without sacrificing for a moment its own entertainment value. The 5 impressive ways david foster wallaces infinite jest predicted. He said it resembled the safety booklet on an american.
Find books like david foster wallaces infinite jest. I was talking to my roommate about infinite jest, and he asked me how it compared to illuminatus. Very good or better in a very good, unclipped dust jacket. By 2016, worldwide sales of dfws book just exceeded one million copies. Infinite jest, and his comments to mccaffery on fiction read like a. Infinite jest is a 1996 novel by american writer david foster wallace. There are a couple of experimental books there like ulysses by joyce, rayuela by cortazar and tres tristes tigres by infante cabrera. Infinite jest has been listed as one of the top 100 all time greatest novels of 19232006. George saunders civilwarland in bad decline, neal stephenson snow crash. Wallaces archives books in his library, notes, and writings have been recently acquired by the harry ransom center at the university of texas. At more than 1,000 pages with copious footnotes infinite jest is a famously difficult read.
David foster wallace infinite jest abc book club youtube. Find books like infinite jest from the worlds largest community of readers. Goodreads members who liked infinite jest also liked. Whats the deal with the names of years in infinite jest. Burn david foster wallaces infinite jest similar books. It is an exuberant,uniquely american exploration of the passions that make us humanand one of those rare books that. Thick octavo, original blue paper boards, original dust jacket. The publication of infinite jest on feb 1, 1996 turned david foster. I am somewhat tempted to immediately start again, since the end is the beginning and you really cant pick it all up in a single read, but if anyone has a good followup or comedown read suggestion id be glad to hear.
Martins storm of swords are longer this, but i was able to clear those books much quicker than david foster wallaces second novel. Delillo and salman rushdie, and like dave eggers, zadie. A readers guide from the worlds largest community of readers. 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. What should i read after infinite jest if i loved it. I havent read infinite jest, but heres some memes about. I was pretty sure greg carlisle had something like this somewhere in his excellent guide to infinite jest, elegant complexity i cant recommend carlisles book enough but sans index and after lots of flipping, i guess not. The aim of the series is to give readers accessible and informative introductions to some of the most. Once you start connecting the whole thing together, youll want to read it over and over its a lot like the entertainment other books that are lighter but somewhat similar. It is an exuberant, uniquely american exploration of the passions that make us human and one of those rare books that renew the. Anyway, i drew the lines with info from infinite jest on pages 93, 403 and 438.
In an instant of sudden clarity i realized he was right, that they were basically the same book the same fractally complex narrative of broken meandering plots about an endlesslyawaited but never arriving apocalypse. In infinite jest, being an active member of a boston aa group is probably a little bit like being a serious musician or like athlete, in terms of constant travel. Infinite jest in the age of addiction the millions. A big thank you to the men and women in the publishing industry who were kind andor lazy enough to keep things consistent. The novel touches on the topics of tennis, substance addiction and recovery programs, depression, child abuse, family relationships, advertising and popular entertainment, film theory, and quebec separatism.
Infinite jest by david foster wallace, first edition. It has been categorized as an encyclopedic novel and made time magazines list of the 100 best englishlanguage novels published between 1923 and 2005. Infinite jest by david foster wallace the greatest books. Ive often said theres no way to describe or synopsize infinite jest. I havent read infinite jest, but heres some memes about it anyway. David foster wallace infinite jest abc the book club. Page 93 states that rome, nny new new york, glens falls, nny, and beverly, ma are all. As it turns out, all physical edition of infinite jest have 981 pages. Infinite jest by david foster wallace chapter 3, 1 april year of the tucks medicated pad, chapter 4, 9 may year of the depent adult undergarment, chapter 5, year of the depend adult undergarment, and chapter 6, year of the trialsize dove bar summary and analysis. Exuberant riffs on a land run amok the new york times. Player sues united airlines, saying woman sexually assaulted him on a flight. Wallace himself didnt like the original cover which showed a blue sky with clouds. Buy infinite jest book online at low prices in india.
If you like infinite jest you might like similar books consider the lobster and other essays, the pale king, white noise, a supposedly fun thing ill never do again. Hollander would then set to work reading, without interruption, one of the thousands of books he recorded over his career. My transcript for the last year might have been dickied a bit, maybe, but that was to get me over a rough spot. Heres how i finally read infinite jest and how you can, too. Wallace began infinite jest, or something like it, at various times between 1986 and 1989. Thumb nose at pedestrians who arent carrying impressive, heavy books.
Infinite jest by david foster wallace the millions. The truth is it might be the worst novel ever written, or at least published, but given the fact that wallace has stiff competition from the burgeoning spawn of pc elitist writers, not to mention his own pomo kith, such as rick moody, dave eggers, and that. So many people post their i just finished x post, and while thats fine, what i hope to do differently is having just finished infinite jest, write a post i would have liked to have read before having started the book. He said in one interview that he set out with infinite jest to do. This is part of a new series of guides to contemporary novels. Infinite jest by david foster wallace the lengthy and complex work takes place in a semiparodic future version of north america.
Havent read infinite jest yet, but i know that don delillos book are similar to foster wallaces. Infinite jest was a megahit in 1996, but whatever popularity it enjoyed among magazine writers, it still occupied a niche. 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. A few weeks ago, i wrote the foreword for infinite summer, a summerlong collective read of infinite jest, david foster wallaces bigass novel and one of my favorite books. Stephen kings the stand uncut edition and george r. This photo of wallace appears on the dustjacket of the 1989 norton hardback edition of his shortstory collection, girl with curious hair. My first attempt was a list of advice on reading the novelthe submission of which prompted infsums dungeon master, matthew baldwin, to write back with a frowny face and a. It refers, plotwise that is, to an object much sought after by terrorists. Its as though paul bunyan had joined the nfl or wittgenstein had gone on. Offer kindle readers on subway opportunity to smell real paper, like orphans. The objet denthousiasme ive been lugging across the world since 1999, a bricksized chunk of narrative excess that id promised my. The novels most crucial event, for instance, is only referenced on page 17 and page 934.