Exactly! This is the video I'll send to anyone who asks me whether reading 'Infinite Jest' is worth it. Derik says virtually everything I'd want to say.
A specific scene that i can’t stop thinking about it Gately’s reminisce of Mrs. Waite. The description is like the tide, giving a little more then receding until it finally crashes down at the end of the scene. I think IJ is like the ocean in that way and the reader is standing on the shore seeing a little bit more as different characters and storey points drift into view and drift back out again.
Predicting all the reasons people wouldn’t use video calls was brilliant, and in a way also predicted filters/face tune with the whole mask thing. Wild.
Great video. I came here from a comment you made on Reddit. I had never heard of Infinite Jest. You did a great job introducing it, without including any spoilers. I also really appreciated the background / cultural context you gave on it, describing how it was a sort of counter-culture book compared to what was prevalent in the 90's. Great stuff! Thanks!
Thank you, I'm glad you're here! I hope you give Infinite Jest a try some day. And also glad to hear you're just as fascinated by the cultural context-- we wouldn't have a novel like this and many others by "New Sincerity" authors like Jonathan Franzen, Zadie Smith, Dave Eggers etc. without the irony and cynicism of the 90's. Best of luck to you and have fun!
Great video! I read this book a while back and I genuinely loved it too and found it a consistently fun world to visit, even when I was greeted by wall after wall of no paragraph break text. The approach to irony or lack there of is serves as a great reminder to my own approach to spending more time with things I really like and less time making fun of things I just kinda don't care for.
Hahaha @ Rice Krispy square analogy; I always thought of it as an all-you-can-eat cheesecake restaurant with a carousel that keeps shoving cheesecake your way.
The term onanism has come to refer to "masturbation" in many modern languages - for example Hebrew (אוננות, onanút), German (Onanie), Greek (αυνανισμός, avnanismós), Japanese (オナニー, onanī), and Swedish (onani) - based on an interpretation of the Onan story. DFW, as usual, had a little something more going on with the nomenclature here ;-)
The secret to reading IJ gives itself away when you see that the quotation marks and nested quotation marks are flipped. The whole thing is a quote, from DFW. He’s telling you the story. Read it like it’s spoken word, and the prose and run on sentences make sense.
The reason Infinite Jest gets so much flack is that most people aren't nearly as smart as they've been led to believe they are. IJ not only opens their eyes to this fact, it slaps them in the face with it. It's hard to confront the realization of their own stupidity, so they decide it must be the book's fault, instead of their own low IQ.
Great review! I've really enjoyed some of DFW's talks and short essays but have been completely intimidated away from attempting Infinite Jest. I'm worried I don't have the attention span to really follow it.
Thanks! Agreed-- while I haven't read any other DFW I have seen a few of his talks and I find how he tried to change the course of literature admirable. But you'll definitely need your attention span to be in line to successfully "get" Infinite Jest. I finished it in about 5 weeks and didn't read anything else at the same time, but a popular way to read it is to follow the Infinite Summer schedule which gives you about 90 days of milestones. This may help whenever you want to dive in! infinitesummer.org/archives/168
I tried to read it three times. I managed the equivalent of a literary major. The last attempt, I stopped almost exactly half-way - a lot of work on, and it is demanding. When I read DFW I am reminded that I am and will always be lyrically and verbally retarded by any comparison at all. He may as well have been a different species to me. I will attempt it again. I LOVED DFW though. It hurts when I think of DFW’s loss, it just hurts my heart. Literarily he challenged us with sentences that appear never end. The footnotes are long and sometime extol entire mathematical theories. but are much too rewarding to miss. Infinite Jest IS mentally taxing. You learn words you never knew existed and will never read again. He DOES alienate readers - “sort of”. He uses “sort of” like a tic, not in Infinite Jest but in other things, like the passage where he described leaders. Or in many of his more accessible work - which is to say nearly anything. He was the greatest literary mind from the past 50 years. I have written all my life, and feel like an idiot who is trying to row to the stars when I read DFW. Mostly, I miss the author not being with us. We have many, many hours of very pleasant and sincere interviews and plenty of thought provoking books and articles. It is not near enough though. For any lover of literature, his loss is akin to losing Elon Musk, with all he is doing and all he will do. That is, a loss to not just his family and friends, but to humanity. I know the impact on every day people and society, Elon runs miles ahead. He is easily the most interesting man alive. DFW was though a literary giant in his lifetime. Everyone appreciated his gifts during his lifetime - more common now than in prior centuries. Other than out of pure envy, no one could dislike him. Actually there’s an interesting exception. I am re-reading his famous article on Federer, often called the best piece of sports journalism in history. (Big call, there are many to vie for that title.) For a tennis nut though, he is just hugely fun because as a tennis athlete himself, he wrote amazing pieces on the subject and it’s personalities. Fun fact. My favourite tennis biography is Agassi’s “Open”, which was ghost written (meaning all the writing bits!) by the author of “The Tender Bar”. Now the young DFW HATED Agassi for some reason. His style of play, being equally strong on both wings, and absurdly good vision in some way offended DFW - it doesn’t matter. However Agassi, knew this, and knew the Federer piece was considered the finest piece of tennis journalism perhaps ever. So when thinking about his biography he wanted a writer to use that article as inspiration, completely putting aside DFWs feelings about himself or his game, and the derogatory words DFS put to print on that subject. It says much about Agassi’s character to do that. DFS gets a pass here. He was young and hot headed when he expressed that view and tragically passed away between. (And let’s face it, we can get pretty fired up about our teams/favourites: this was that.)
Great thoughts. A quibble: I wouldn't call the setting "post-apocalyptic". Unless maybe you refer specifically to the residents of what became the Concavity having to flee the area en masse. For the rest of the world, civilization never broke down suddenly, but is clearly troubled - troubled, in fact, by loss of direction. America has no more enemies abroad, and this is part of why the population has turned self-indulgent and addicted to distraction. Also Gentle is not trying to eradicate the Concavity. He's using it as America's garbage bin. Anyway I really liked your summary and insights about the book. Being in the post-modernist-encylopedic tradition ala Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, IJ is the sort of book that really delivers on the second and third time through.
I'm reading it now. I scheduled it for a year to read it. That's 3 pages a day. I'm ahead of my schedule and really like it so far. A lot of funny stuff. I'm keeping a journal detailing each day's reading. I'm also being exposed to many new words. Wallace must have had an eidetic memory (like Hal).
I am currently reading Infinite Jest. I've been struggling reading it. I'm at around 280 pages with reddit promising that it gets better after 300 pages. The struggle with me is just the over abundance, i guess I'd call it. I definitely get when you say you need to concentrate on it. I generally read at least 2 books at a time; i was struggling so much with IJ that i picked up a third piece of fiction three times so far and have finished 3 other works for fiction and 2 nonfictions whilst not even to 300 pages in IJ. I apparently don't read with deep concentration!
It's all about what you want as a reader. DFW wanted the book to be hard, to bore you at times, to make you work. In today's age things are so easy (watching tv, passive art, sexual gratification via interwebs, etc.) and are so available to us we lose the value in doing hard things. You are right at the section where Don Gately describes "the things you learn in Boston AA" and that's where a lot of people start to get hooked. You start to buy into the characters, the ridiculously long sentences, all the references that you have no idea what they actually mean but are so invested you keep the Infinite Jest wiki open at all times. Keep going. Keep 3 bookmarks. Actually read all of the footnotes. Believe that the hard things are worth doing and let DFW take you on the ride of your life.
I've just ordered this book, I feel like I'm really late to the party. I can't wait to read it. ❤️ I really hope I don't find it unreadable 😂😂😂😂 I just get that thing with some books where I'm like...... F this book. But I only paid 10 euro for it so it won't be much of a waste if I can't get through it.
Didn't mean to offend! I could've compared it to Outkast's "Hey Ya" too, that it's an inherently serious story put into a fun and upbeat vehicle is all. But something tells me you're not an Outkast fan either, lol
Exactly! This is the video I'll send to anyone who asks me whether reading 'Infinite Jest' is worth it. Derik says virtually everything I'd want to say.
A specific scene that i can’t stop thinking about it Gately’s reminisce of Mrs. Waite. The description is like the tide, giving a little more then receding until it finally crashes down at the end of the scene.
I think IJ is like the ocean in that way and the reader is standing on the shore seeing a little bit more as different characters and storey points drift into view and drift back out again.
Predicting all the reasons people wouldn’t use video calls was brilliant, and in a way also predicted filters/face tune with the whole mask thing. Wild.
Great video. I came here from a comment you made on Reddit. I had never heard of Infinite Jest. You did a great job introducing it, without including any spoilers. I also really appreciated the background / cultural context you gave on it, describing how it was a sort of counter-culture book compared to what was prevalent in the 90's. Great stuff! Thanks!
Thank you, I'm glad you're here! I hope you give Infinite Jest a try some day. And also glad to hear you're just as fascinated by the cultural context-- we wouldn't have a novel like this and many others by "New Sincerity" authors like Jonathan Franzen, Zadie Smith, Dave Eggers etc. without the irony and cynicism of the 90's. Best of luck to you and have fun!
@@readhardbooks2828 Did you ever read: Xman by Michael Brodsky? I need help understanding this book. 🐧
I think chapter 6 was a tribute to Faulkner style writing. As soon as I realized it, I said “Ok, we’re actually doing this!” 🤣
Great video! I read this book a while back and I genuinely loved it too and found it a consistently fun world to visit, even when I was greeted by wall after wall of no paragraph break text. The approach to irony or lack there of is serves as a great reminder to my own approach to spending more time with things I really like and less time making fun of things I just kinda don't care for.
Hahaha @ Rice Krispy square analogy; I always thought of it as an all-you-can-eat cheesecake restaurant with a carousel that keeps shoving cheesecake your way.
Great video. This makes me want to go back and re-read IJ... again lol
These videos are great. Keep them coming please!
Great video. Hope you upload more soon.
The term onanism has come to refer to "masturbation" in many modern languages - for example Hebrew (אוננות, onanút), German (Onanie), Greek (αυνανισμός, avnanismós), Japanese (オナニー, onanī), and Swedish (onani) - based on an interpretation of the Onan story. DFW, as usual, had a little something more going on with the nomenclature here ;-)
This is an excellent welcome to the world of Infinite Jest. Great job, dude!
Thank you, that means a lot!
The secret to reading IJ gives itself away when you see that the quotation marks and nested quotation marks are flipped.
The whole thing is a quote, from DFW. He’s telling you the story. Read it like it’s spoken word, and the prose and run on sentences make sense.
The reason Infinite Jest gets so much flack is that most people aren't nearly as smart as they've been led to believe they are. IJ not only opens their eyes to this fact, it slaps them in the face with it. It's hard to confront the realization of their own stupidity, so they decide it must be the book's fault, instead of their own low IQ.
Ironically (pun), DFW was a known HUGE fan of alanis morissette
No way, I actually LOVE that fact!
Wonderful review. I'm reading it and it's excellent.. ♥
Great review! I've really enjoyed some of DFW's talks and short essays but have been completely intimidated away from attempting Infinite Jest. I'm worried I don't have the attention span to really follow it.
Thanks! Agreed-- while I haven't read any other DFW I have seen a few of his talks and I find how he tried to change the course of literature admirable. But you'll definitely need your attention span to be in line to successfully "get" Infinite Jest. I finished it in about 5 weeks and didn't read anything else at the same time, but a popular way to read it is to follow the Infinite Summer schedule which gives you about 90 days of milestones. This may help whenever you want to dive in! infinitesummer.org/archives/168
Great video essay man. DFW would definitely appreciate the use of "Shakespearean sentimentality."
Lol. This ain't yo mama's Hallmark movie about addicts!
I tried to read it three times. I managed the equivalent of a literary major. The last attempt, I stopped almost exactly half-way - a lot of work on, and it is demanding. When I read DFW I am reminded that I am and will always be lyrically and verbally retarded by any comparison at all. He may as well have been a different species to me. I will attempt it again. I LOVED DFW though. It hurts when I think of DFW’s loss, it just hurts my heart. Literarily he challenged us with sentences that appear never end. The footnotes are long and sometime extol entire mathematical theories. but are much too rewarding to miss. Infinite Jest IS mentally taxing. You learn words you never knew existed and will never read again. He DOES alienate readers - “sort of”. He uses “sort of” like a tic, not in Infinite Jest but in other things, like the passage where he described leaders. Or in many of his more accessible work - which is to say nearly anything. He was the greatest literary mind from the past 50 years. I have written all my life, and feel like an idiot who is trying to row to the stars when I read DFW. Mostly, I miss the author not being with us. We have many, many hours of very pleasant and sincere interviews and plenty of thought provoking books and articles. It is not near enough though. For any lover of literature, his loss is akin to losing Elon Musk, with all he is doing and all he will do. That is, a loss to not just his family and friends, but to humanity. I know the impact on every day people and society, Elon runs miles ahead. He is easily the most interesting man alive. DFW was though a literary giant in his lifetime. Everyone appreciated his gifts during his lifetime - more common now than in prior centuries. Other than out of pure envy, no one could dislike him. Actually there’s an interesting exception. I am re-reading his famous article on Federer, often called the best piece of sports journalism in history. (Big call, there are many to vie for that title.) For a tennis nut though, he is just hugely fun because as a tennis athlete himself, he wrote amazing pieces on the subject and it’s personalities. Fun fact. My favourite tennis biography is Agassi’s “Open”, which was ghost written (meaning all the writing bits!) by the author of “The Tender Bar”. Now the young DFW HATED Agassi for some reason. His style of play, being equally strong on both wings, and absurdly good vision in some way offended DFW - it doesn’t matter. However Agassi, knew this, and knew the Federer piece was considered the finest piece of tennis journalism perhaps ever. So when thinking about his biography he wanted a writer to use that article as inspiration, completely putting aside DFWs feelings about himself or his game, and the derogatory words DFS put to print on that subject. It says much about Agassi’s character to do that. DFS gets a pass here. He was young and hot headed when he expressed that view and tragically passed away between. (And let’s face it, we can get pretty fired up about our teams/favourites: this was that.)
Have you read Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami?
Would you say that Infinite Jest is much harder than Kafka?
Thanks mate, great video! Just what I needed to get started with it, thanks for not spoiling anything either!
Great thoughts. A quibble: I wouldn't call the setting "post-apocalyptic". Unless maybe you refer specifically to the residents of what became the Concavity having to flee the area en masse. For the rest of the world, civilization never broke down suddenly, but is clearly troubled - troubled, in fact, by loss of direction. America has no more enemies abroad, and this is part of why the population has turned self-indulgent and addicted to distraction. Also Gentle is not trying to eradicate the Concavity. He's using it as America's garbage bin. Anyway I really liked your summary and insights about the book. Being in the post-modernist-encylopedic tradition ala Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, IJ is the sort of book that really delivers on the second and third time through.
Great review 👍🏻
I'm reading it now. I scheduled it for a year to read it. That's 3 pages a day. I'm ahead of my schedule and really like it so far. A lot of funny stuff. I'm keeping a journal detailing each day's reading. I'm also being exposed to many new words. Wallace must have had an eidetic memory (like Hal).
I'm so glad you're finding the humor it, best of luck to you throughout the year!
I am currently reading Infinite Jest. I've been struggling reading it. I'm at around 280 pages with reddit promising that it gets better after 300 pages. The struggle with me is just the over abundance, i guess I'd call it. I definitely get when you say you need to concentrate on it. I generally read at least 2 books at a time; i was struggling so much with IJ that i picked up a third piece of fiction three times so far and have finished 3 other works for fiction and 2 nonfictions whilst not even to 300 pages in IJ. I apparently don't read with deep concentration!
It's all about what you want as a reader. DFW wanted the book to be hard, to bore you at times, to make you work. In today's age things are so easy (watching tv, passive art, sexual gratification via interwebs, etc.) and are so available to us we lose the value in doing hard things. You are right at the section where Don Gately describes "the things you learn in Boston AA" and that's where a lot of people start to get hooked. You start to buy into the characters, the ridiculously long sentences, all the references that you have no idea what they actually mean but are so invested you keep the Infinite Jest wiki open at all times. Keep going. Keep 3 bookmarks. Actually read all of the footnotes. Believe that the hard things are worth doing and let DFW take you on the ride of your life.
How did the rest of reading it go? I hear you, he throws a TON of information at you and it can feel encyclopedic at times.
Hey what is that Coronado poster in the background? Is that a book?
It’s a poster with the word “Coronado” on it.
I've just ordered this book, I feel like I'm really late to the party. I can't wait to read it. ❤️ I really hope I don't find it unreadable 😂😂😂😂 I just get that thing with some books where I'm like...... F this book. But I only paid 10 euro for it so it won't be much of a waste if I can't get through it.
Now that we're 3 years later, how did it go!?
ugh. third eye blind? really?
Didn't mean to offend! I could've compared it to Outkast's "Hey Ya" too, that it's an inherently serious story put into a fun and upbeat vehicle is all. But something tells me you're not an Outkast fan either, lol
Ótimo vídeo, obrigado
I owned it 3 times and never made it past p188, didn't waste time reading footnotes. *I believe the "jest" is on the reader.
You never got far enough into the footnotes
Reddit gang 🤙
Welcome welcome!