To all new listeners of this lecture, know this: Just get past the few first minutes of nervous mumbling and it turns into a FANTASTIC lecture. The best introduction to this book I have ever heard. This is a treasure :) My best greetings to you, O´Bryan ;)
Glad you posted this. I almost p'shawed YT's recommendation engine 40 seconds into the video. Good on you and RUclips. I am glad i kept watching, and feel only mild irritation that there are three parts that i will definitely be absorbing.
I have been a physicist for over 50 years, and most of my education involved learning to operate in a world with many things I didn't understand. It is the human condition.
“The truth will set you free, but not until it’s finished with you”… this is best lecture I have heard on the book and thank you so much for putting this together. I can’t tell you how much I appreciated the points about the readers.
Getting ready to tackle infinite Jest for 2022. A few years behind for the challenge I suppose but glad to have found this. Cheers to anyone else preparing to read this novel too.
Love this. I’m almost done with my 4th reading of Infinite Jest, but this time it’s audio. I don’t think it can ever be exhausted, so I really appreciate this.
everyone attacking this wonderful lecturer on his way of speaking clearly never had to present on any complex topic in a lengthy manner. be grateful for how lively this lecture was
@@sebastiansmith5524 Yes, and at university famously some of our lecturers were really shit in their delivery style, because they were academics first and foremost. Some of our lecturers were world famous and shit, so you had to listen really hard and take notes, by hand (gasp), because it was in ancient times before laptops and some of us thought that it was fucking rude as well as lazy to put a dictaphone on their lectern. You'd clearly have to completely not understand university and how some academics are there to write books and research first and foremost and lecturing is an annoying thing they have to do while doing that to put bread on the table. American lecturers were the worst for speaking in terrible english and having ridiculously high as well as foreign standard to impose on us, like endnotes only and not footnotes, which are awful or double spacing, they also used to throw loads of assignments at us and be upset when we didn't do them, because things are different here, but that's apparently what you pay for in the US at university. It's not actually a place where because you have to pay them as much as they want, because it's not regulated, that they somehow have to present really clearly for you, that's not really how university works, even over there.
Poor presentation skills are a sign of poor preparation and a lack of standards. His slides also reflect his low standards for quality. Or would you argue walls of text make for excellent slide composition? Forgivable with grad students, but not literary professors!
While I’m on it, you see the laziness even in his appearance. He mentioned at the beginning that he couldn’t bother finding a way to groom himself during COVID.
I got about halfway through IJ before I realized I wasn’t really processing it, and more marathoning it. Should’ve listened to this first! Great lecture.
After reading “The Planet Trillaphon…” it became heartbreakingly evident what a cry for help every page of IJ is. And i understood why he was so bemused that everyone thought it was such a funny book. GOOD NIGHT SWEET PRINCE AND FLIGHTS OF ANGELS SING THEE TO THY REST
I’m so excited to watch this! When reading these big books I often wish to have a resource to interact with. Would love to see this turn into a series of other big books!!!
I think it is time to read "Infinite Jest" for the 3rd time! It is just completely transformative. Also PLEASE folks check out "The Pale King" :) ... anyways I once read IF as my avatar in VR ... maybe I do it again in Second Life ....
Stick with this (like Infinite Jest). He hits his stride midway through Part 1 and then gets better and better. Really -- this 4 part series is brilliant.
People really can be assholes. Making fun of the way a dude speaks (for like the first 2 minutes by the way - the 'ums' dramatically reduce as he eases up), whilst watching a video about one of the most self-conscious intellectuals in recent times, really advertises a gross ironic lack of self-awareness. I'm interested as to why Michael said he wasn't much of a fan of Harold Bloom. Bloom is undoubtedly a genius and incredibly well-read as far as his literary analyses and criticisms go (although I do disagree with him about Infinite Jest, at least in part). I can only imagine his dislike stems from Bloom's more outspoken criticisms of identitarian approaches to literary analysis (ie obsessive moralizing political correctness under the guise of literary analysis). Most university students and lecturers have unconsciously adopted that stance (with the best of intentions usually), so I'm curious if seeing someone vehemently against that approach is the reason for Michael's lack of enthusiasm towards Bloom.
But why do they say this book is complicated??? Or somehow difficult to understand, or process, or get, or absorb or have any clue whatsoever is going on at any given moment or series of moments within aforementioned book..... It doesn't make sense, I don't get it, why is this book considered challenging or difficult or infuriating or anything other than a fairly easy read that clips along quite nicely.... Well whichever, I'm going back to clipping my toenails
When does the book get enjoyable? When will it 'hit me' like it did with other people? I'm on page 560 and I've found the experience torturous and unenjoyable.
Its endlessly interesting the ways in which a perspective at the moment when it has your undivided attention seems to sit in the king seat and dominate your ideas and beliefs, in this case, on David Foster Wallace. But when you are reading Wallace, he indeed is that seat while you read. And then when you are not reading then you sit in that seat. Like Hamlet. And you soliloquize about your life. What interests me here is the attitude of the instructor who seems to assert that he has the ultimate truths about IJ. Indeed, the people seated must believe in him as some sort of authority of the text but you see it is precisely the same belief that people have about property and who owns that property.
I see. He wasn’t a spoiled angsty brat. He was a drug addict. I finally understand this guy. Why pretend to be something you’re not and arguably less likable. I couldn’t stand him when I thought he was a brat. An addict makes sense. I suppose empathy for addicts wasn’t like it is today. His pr and own image making, perpetuates the depressed pretentious narcissistic white guy culture, which his work has nothing to do with .
@Philip Walsh he doesn't have a stutter. He's just lazy and undisciplined. Just like the content of his presentation is the product of lazy and undisciplined work.
@Philip Walsh I think it's quite a bit more "mean" to make his audience suffer through all of those umms and uhhhs. Someone needs to give him a wake-up call.
You can't mention a successful white person without insulting him first in American shitiversities, otherwise the autistic social justice warriors will complaining about the professor being a white supremacist.
Ummm I’m trying to ahhh fit the stereotype of an academic so ummmm I ahhh feel the ahhhh need to say uhhhhh and ummmm all the ummmmm time. Ummm is not jargon !!!!!!
To all new listeners of this lecture, know this: Just get past the few first minutes of nervous mumbling and it turns into a FANTASTIC lecture. The best introduction to this book I have ever heard. This is a treasure :) My best greetings to you, O´Bryan ;)
Glad you posted this. I almost p'shawed YT's recommendation engine 40 seconds into the video. Good on you and RUclips. I am glad i kept watching, and feel only mild irritation that there are three parts that i will definitely be absorbing.
Uuummm…
I created a fixed version with all the"ums" removed, almost 900 of them. Search for 56rcJShyVZg
Wonderful Wonderful Wonderful
“We can go ahead and get started I suppose” - 2:47
I hope he ended up getting a drink with that lady who laughed at all his jokes.
She's the only one there
I almost cried.
As a reader, " you haft to get past this fear that if you do not understanding what is going on it does not mean there is something wrong with you"
I have been a physicist for over 50 years, and most of my education involved learning to operate in a world with many things I didn't understand. It is the human condition.
“The truth will set you free, but not until it’s finished with you”… this is best lecture I have heard on the book and thank you so much for putting this together. I can’t tell you how much I appreciated the points about the readers.
Getting ready to tackle infinite Jest for 2022. A few years behind for the challenge I suppose but glad to have found this. Cheers to anyone else preparing to read this novel too.
well, did u end up finishing the book?
Love this. I’m almost done with my 4th reading of Infinite Jest, but this time it’s audio.
I don’t think it can ever be exhausted, so I really appreciate this.
everyone attacking this wonderful lecturer on his way of speaking clearly never had to present on any complex topic in a lengthy manner. be grateful for how lively this lecture was
He's a university lecturer...
@@sebastiansmith5524 Yes, and at university famously some of our lecturers were really shit in their delivery style, because they were academics first and foremost. Some of our lecturers were world famous and shit, so you had to listen really hard and take notes, by hand (gasp), because it was in ancient times before laptops and some of us thought that it was fucking rude as well as lazy to put a dictaphone on their lectern.
You'd clearly have to completely not understand university and how some academics are there to write books and research first and foremost and lecturing is an annoying thing they have to do while doing that to put bread on the table. American lecturers were the worst for speaking in terrible english and having ridiculously high as well as foreign standard to impose on us, like endnotes only and not footnotes, which are awful or double spacing, they also used to throw loads of assignments at us and be upset when we didn't do them, because things are different here, but that's apparently what you pay for in the US at university.
It's not actually a place where because you have to pay them as much as they want, because it's not regulated, that they somehow have to present really clearly for you, that's not really how university works, even over there.
Poor presentation skills are a sign of poor preparation and a lack of standards. His slides also reflect his low standards for quality. Or would you argue walls of text make for excellent slide composition? Forgivable with grad students, but not literary professors!
While I’m on it, you see the laziness even in his appearance. He mentioned at the beginning that he couldn’t bother finding a way to groom himself during COVID.
@@DH-qy1fv omg no one cares what you have to say please don't waste pixels
I got about halfway through IJ before I realized I wasn’t really processing it, and more marathoning it. Should’ve listened to this first! Great lecture.
After reading “The Planet Trillaphon…” it became heartbreakingly evident what a cry for help every page of IJ is. And i understood why he was so bemused that everyone thought it was such a funny book. GOOD NIGHT SWEET PRINCE AND FLIGHTS OF ANGELS SING THEE TO THY REST
I’m so excited to watch this! When reading these big books I often wish to have a resource to interact with. Would love to see this turn into a series of other big books!!!
he kinda feels like intellectual Seth Rogen I like it
Are you inferring that Mr.Rogan is not a "intellectual? Pashaa
@@michaelcole2862 here is three minutes of laughter about how you crushed that joke
ruclips.net/video/6fTsXgrac7E/видео.html
I’m the event manager at the Moonrise Hotel. So cool to know this happened in my neighborhood!
Great lecture. Thank you Dr. O’Bryan
DFW’s interview with Charlie Rose is fascinating. I think it tells you a lot about DFW.
I think it is time to read "Infinite Jest" for the 3rd time! It is just completely transformative. Also PLEASE folks check out "The Pale King" :) ... anyways I once read IF as my avatar in VR ... maybe I do it again in Second Life ....
Stick with this (like Infinite Jest). He hits his stride midway through Part 1 and then gets better and better. Really -- this 4 part series is brilliant.
just now coming into David Foster Wallace... wow .
❤David would appreciate this 🍻. R.I.P mate
At 6:55 he says his mother was an aggressive ( ? ) as Avril Incandenza is in the novel. What word does he use after aggressive?
grammarian
@@gpr1030 Ah! Thank you.
Is this safe to watch before starting the book?
Yes
People really can be assholes. Making fun of the way a dude speaks (for like the first 2 minutes by the way - the 'ums' dramatically reduce as he eases up), whilst watching a video about one of the most self-conscious intellectuals in recent times, really advertises a gross ironic lack of self-awareness. I'm interested as to why Michael said he wasn't much of a fan of Harold Bloom. Bloom is undoubtedly a genius and incredibly well-read as far as his literary analyses and criticisms go (although I do disagree with him about Infinite Jest, at least in part). I can only imagine his dislike stems from Bloom's more outspoken criticisms of identitarian approaches to literary analysis (ie obsessive moralizing political correctness under the guise of literary analysis). Most university students and lecturers have unconsciously adopted that stance (with the best of intentions usually), so I'm curious if seeing someone vehemently against that approach is the reason for Michael's lack of enthusiasm towards Bloom.
👏
And the entire audience consisted of only a single, laughing girl...
That comma is, unnecessary.
@@ophello The comma emphasizes two distinct qualities, and, anyway, I do what the fuck I want
@@jojodogface898 it’s good to know how to use a comma. Better to have the skill and choose not use it than to need the skill and not have it.
@@ophello You're right, and it's better to have something to say and choose not to say it, than to have nothing to say and to say it anyway
I support your use of the comma
Excellent lecture.
Very insightful, loved this!
watch this seriously, very smart man
18:21 ?!
this is fantastic
These are great
Thanks for this Micheal.
I want to make a RUclips channel about infinite jest but I never have read it
this dude is based. been reading Infinite Jest during the pandemic. good stuff.
Please stop saying “based.”
@@ophello your other comments on this channel are really negative, I heard that’s what makes cancer grow
@@ophelloYou haven’t commented on this video in almost a year, but I just wanted to tell you that you are the littlest man that’s ever been little.
I audibly laughed when he said he was a professor of rhetoric
люблю эту книгу!
Good of his Mother to show up
Can I watch this before having read the book? I have some kind of spoiler phobia.
This book is not spoilable. Well part 2 he does talk quite a bit about what's in the book.
This is literature, not Star Wars, you either shit or get off the pot.
@@Oscuros “Doo-doo. Or doo-doo not. There is no try.”
But why do they say this book is complicated??? Or somehow difficult to understand, or process, or get, or absorb or have any clue whatsoever is going on at any given moment or series of moments within aforementioned book..... It doesn't make sense, I don't get it, why is this book considered challenging or difficult or infuriating or anything other than a fairly easy read that clips along quite nicely.... Well whichever, I'm going back to clipping my toenails
@@tastecreativity129 Well said: ‘this book is not spoilable.’ 😂
The uhhh's aren't as bad as the comments lead me to believe..... It's not terribly difficult to understand this guy at all
When does the book get enjoyable? When will it 'hit me' like it did with other people? I'm on page 560 and I've found the experience torturous and unenjoyable.
yall are so mean.
Its endlessly interesting the ways in which a perspective at the moment when it has your undivided attention seems to sit in the king seat and dominate your ideas and beliefs, in this case, on David Foster Wallace. But when you are reading Wallace, he indeed is that seat while you read. And then when you are not reading then you sit in that seat. Like Hamlet. And you soliloquize about your life. What interests me here is the attitude of the instructor who seems to assert that he has the ultimate truths about IJ. Indeed, the people seated must believe in him as some sort of authority of the text but you see it is precisely the same belief that people have about property and who owns that property.
I'm only two and a half minutes in and I have never before in my entire life heard so many utterances of "uhh" and "uhm"...
I would recut this with every uh and um removed.
He can’t go through a phrase without an “um”.
For a professor, it’s absolutely brutal how much he says ummm and uhhhh. Almost unlistenable.
Yeah but also he's talking to a nearly empty room so that must be awkward for him
I see. He wasn’t a spoiled angsty brat. He was a drug addict. I finally understand this guy. Why pretend to be something you’re not and arguably less likable. I couldn’t stand him when I thought he was a brat. An addict makes sense. I suppose empathy for addicts wasn’t like it is today. His pr and own image making, perpetuates the depressed pretentious narcissistic white guy culture, which his work has nothing to do with .
my favorite part was when he said "ummm .. uhhh"
Ummm... ...yaaah.
When was this?
@@basqye9 around every couple seconds
"misogyny": a term used when a narcissist is criticized.
All the “Uhhh” “ummm” ALMOST made me turn the video off
cant take all the ummm, aaahs etc. Terrible speaker
Ummm uhhhh. Standards for professorship seem to be slipping. I’d be more forgiving if he wasn’t a literature professor.
@Philip Walsh he doesn't have a stutter. He's just lazy and undisciplined. Just like the content of his presentation is the product of lazy and undisciplined work.
@Philip Walsh I think it's quite a bit more "mean" to make his audience suffer through all of those umms and uhhhs. Someone needs to give him a wake-up call.
Uh
CS t stand the uuuummm’s every five seconds. Man should be a more experienced speaker.
“He’s a really smart and troubled white dude who umm uhh wrote a book” *puke* This is the state of American education today!
Easier to denigrate the author and his work rather than try to live up to it?
where's the insult where's the lie
You can't mention a successful white person without insulting him first in American shitiversities, otherwise the autistic social justice warriors will complaining about the professor being a white supremacist.
stop uhh maybe uhhh uhhhing
@Trevor Chase I know it's not easy, but he's terrible and its a constructive feedback really.
Ummmm uhhhh ummmm uhhhh uhhhh ummmm
Too many ums
Ummm I’m trying to ahhh fit the stereotype of an academic so ummmm I ahhh feel the ahhhh need to say uhhhhh and ummmm all the ummmmm time.
Ummm is not jargon !!!!!!
I'd say avoid. It's FAR too depressing, and goes nowhere. Read David Copperfield instead.
Too much ah and um . Annoying. I couldn't stick with him.
Uhhh... I.... uhhhhmmm... am a .... uhhhh.... ummmmmmmm..... not ...... ummm supposed to......... ummmmmmm. Jesus fucking Christ! Unfucking...... ummm ahhhhhhhhh unbearable
A a a a a....you shouldn't talk to an audience. A a a...