Infinite jest was extremely influential to me. I read it twice while in prison. As a drug addict in recovery I was far more invested in some of the themes than others might be. It shifted my perspective on life (for the better)
I cannot imagine the relevance and resonance of this book on addicts/ex-addicts. I know two other people who’ve found a sort of anchor in IJ. And Michael Silverblatt, a former alcoholic, was close with DFW and has said powerful sentiments about the book.
It’s been very influential on me as well, I struggled with marijuana addiction for years, and after reading Infinite Jest, I kicked my habit completely.
Loved the video. Just finished the book today.Took 36 days, reading at a pace of about 30 pages a day, fifteen in the morning and fifteen at night. I'm a slow reader but once I sort of embraced the density of DFW's style, the book became more and more enjoyable. Borderline emotional when you get to the last footnote and the last page. Felt the same way about The Recognitions, which I actually thought was a little more challenging than IJ.
I stopped once the plot summary began - only because I have yet to read this book - but man let me say, we all really value these types of videos. You are a friend to us, and we appreciate everything.
Took me 3 days to complete the video. I have never been engrossed in a video like this before, it was almost similar to reading a book. I sincerely thank you for the amount of work you put in your videos. Watching this video has increased my respect and admiration for Infinite Jest. Can’t wait to read it again. Thanks again.
Many thanks for your kind feedback. I tried to get as much into this video as possible without it being totally chaotic and/or unpalatable. So I do appreciate your comment. And I can’t ask for more than that you are now inspired to read it again. Take care!
My favourite scene was when J.O Incandenza's father was teaching him how to treat objects and the physical world. A beautiful expression of what it means to live in the moment
I also think Ken waiting for his pot dealer to call/deliver Bob Hope for the one last binge was a perfect description of this as well (the bug walking in and out of the hole in the shelving)...
Currently in a literature graduate program and have been revisiting this novel I picked up almost seven years ago. I’ve since reread IJ and have found so much more within each scene and character. The inspiration from Lynch and Kubrick stood out to me during the first read but mentally dissecting this novel over the years has uncovered so much more: the healing qualities of tennis, the morose life of Poor Tony, and Kate Gompert’s heartbreaking admission. Everything about this novel breathed. It’s the truest fiction I’ve ever encountered.
Amazing analysis here. I recently read IJ for the first time and was really moved. 52:39 I love this prufrock connection. In endnote #90(p.1002) when Gately is talking to Geoffrey(who also suffers from debilitating overthinking) about analysis paralysis, he actually responds with a direct quote from the poem: "oh do not ask what is it." so good.
You are the absolute man! Love the deep dives into secondary readings you do for these books. Your curiosity and love of literature are infectious and have truly enriched my life and others.
That is a very high compliment, and I appreciate it so much! It's a labor of love and I so appreciate being able to share my passion with everyone. All my best to you.
One benefit to the pandemic has been the opportunity to read big books like Infinite Jest, Mason & Dixon and Underworld, all of which are far too heavy and cumbersome to read on my usual commute! Can't wait to watch this later as IJ is still somewhat fresh in my mind. Keep up the great work!
I think that the quarantines have definitely been blessings for bookworms, indeed. A good way to look at it. In fact, I read Mason & Dixon during lockdown myself! Hope you enjoy the video.
I always thought it so fascinating that Infinite Jest, Underworld, The Tunnel by William Gass, and Mason & Dixon all came out within 3 years of eachother... Insane
hi! i've recently gotten to familiarize with the enormous amount of work you're putting into this channel and i can safely say you've given me back a love for literature i thought i had long lost: many thanks from a big italian fan of yours!
I read Infinite Jest a year ago with a deep reading online group. It was a wonderful read and we had great discussions. I agree Foster Wallace is an intellectual firework, not a peacock. It's so sad that he had a bad ending, but he left us some wonderful works. I like your analogy with Wagner, another flawed artist, but who would want to be without the Ring or any of his other operas. Wagner was a real slimeball, yet his works are sublime, spiritually uplifting. I love that although I'm twice your age and the Atlantic separates us, we can agree on books. My hubby says you are an excellent critic, he often listens in when I'm on my tablet. He's a biker and not a big reader of fiction, but says that he likes the clear way you set out your arguments, and the way you express yourself. He told me to tell you that he thinks "you are one of the good guys'.
Thank you Chris for drawing my attention to this book, which I've now read and absolutely loved. I found myself reading it as if it were being spoken and the rhythm just flowed. As I can't read for as long as I used to (getting used to reading glasses) I would pause after a section, allowing it to sink in as I ruminated. I particulalrly loved how DFW could drop an image in, then pick it up 2- 300 pages later and you'd instantly get it, even preempting at one point (Orin's cockroaches under the glass tumbler in the shower, then later when he's trapped under a giant tumbler). Also, thanks for introducung me to Animals As Leaders! Tosin Abasi is an extraordinary musician and person. Cheers, Ian
This is one of those rare gems that define a decade. So glad you enjoyed its riches. And, yes, Tosin is insane! I've been listening to their new album on repeat for weeks now. Happy reading (and listening)!
This was the first “difficult” novel I read years ago. It’s incredible how much I remember about it since I tend to forget a lot of what i read besides the main plot/themes/ideas. I think it is how he describes things so interestingly. Excellent video
Absolutely! One other observation I always found fascinating that you didn’t mention was the physical act of going back and forth from the main novel to the footnotes kind of mimics a tennis match.
When I read the first chapter of this novel, it immediately resonated with me on a level I’ve never felt before. Your review is great! For big books like this it’s easy as a reader to feel alone, like you can’t talk to anyone about it. You’ve inspired me to start The Recognitions and put GR on my list. Just finished The Castle by Kafka and feel like you could really dig into that one.
I read the first 700 pages of The Recognitions, then stopped, haven't returned to it. JR I never tried. Loved The Crying of Lot 49, but became upset with Vineland, so much so I've never read any Pynchon since. Overall fav of these bigger tomes is Juliette by de Sade; took a breather about six or seven hundred pages into that one as well, put it down for a year, figuring the Marquis was not going to teach me anymore, but on a whim picked it back up and finished. Glad I did. Those last few hundred pages were very much so worth the effort. But anyway. I wanted to respond to your comment, Ethan, because of The Castle. I read all of The Trial in college, then a few months later tried The Castle. Got about halfway through and it struck me that it was really just about the same as The Trial. Just more of the same. Request. If you've read both, finished both, tell me why I should go back and finish The Castle.
This is such a wonderful video. I simply have no words to express how impactful it was to listen to this in-depth discussion. Also respect for the sensitivity with which you commented on the separation of the work from the actions of the artist as an individual. This will be my third try with IJ and I really hope I can complete it this time. 🙂
I remember that Silberblatt episode. I used to listen. The good news is that the episodes are still available on Spotify or whatever podcast app you use. This is a really wonderful episode of your channel, I was going out into the October sun, but I'm enthralled by this video. I instantly bought the D T Max biography.
This was the book that got me into reading Pynchon and Gaddis. It's a book that also sadly gets a negative rap for its own fan base and how people tend to handle the novel when speaking to others. It's difficult because most people around me would hear what this novel is and immediately say " oh that sounds like work, I'd never read that." I would sadly think inside, that's the point. I will always find it important to sometimes place yourself in an uncomfortable situation so that you can grow or learn something that you never knew before vs always being in a default setting. I'll always find it amazing the correlation between Infinite Jest and This Is Water
It all comes back to what one uses books to achieve. For some it's catharsis, passing the time. For others it's pure study, the increase of knowledge. For still others it's the chase for the aesthetic sublime. There's another who uses books to expand the mind, to learn how to live well. For a great many, I believe, there's a (subconscious) longing to recapture the bliss of being read an enchanting story as a child--this usually manifests as the cry for story/plot above everything, the craft of the writing only gets in the way. Yet there are others who are a blend of all the aforementioned. I think I'm all of these except "passing the time" (what an irreverent use of books!) and "story above all." But, as with everything in this life, we have to learn to respect and appreciate all the different types of people there are. You and I can clasp our copies of IJ to our chests and feel grateful.
@@LeafbyLeaf to this I say huzzah! I would fall into a very similar camp of reader and am always looking to find the uncomfortable. I feel it is through such growing pains that we can learn more about ourselves.
Thanks for this, really articulate and well put together. I have extraordinarily fond memories of pouring through and out of Infinite Jest as a heartbroken nineteen year old wandering around Dublin - but admittedly in the years since then (ten, the same as yourself, since I first read it), I have fallen off the Wallace Wagon so to speak. His work meant an awful lot to me at a very pivotal time in my life but I had long ago filed Wallace's work, and indeed, a lot of the rest of the 'new sincerity' movement into the same filing cabinet in which I'd place House of Leaves or A Visit from the Goon Squad. For some reason I really soured to his style, and started to find his tone and the overly intellectualised texture of his work condescending and even arrogant (although on reflection these are clearly problems I bring to the book, rather than the other way around; as such, they are my bugbears to boo). I favoured Gass, Gaddis, Pynchon, Krasznahorkai, Stein, and Joyce, and relegated Wallace to the position of teenage juvenilia. But you've made a really strong, compelling argument for why now might be the absolute best time to heave the book back off the shelf and dive in. Cheers for your time and your thoughts.
Gass, Gaddis, Pynchon, Krasznahorkai, Stein, and Joyce. These are certainly GIANTS! I am glad that you're considering reconsidering DFW, but I can certainly understand your reasoning for the relegation. If you do embark on the journey, I'd love to hear what happens. All my best to you!
@@LeafbyLeaf giants they are, and I don't think I'd reorganise how I prioritise my reading around IJ any time soon, but I'm applying for PhD positions at the moment so I imagine if I hear anything one way or the other it'll be the perfect time to open it up again. I never did finish The Pale King (what exists of it at any rate) but I should do. Certainly will, keep cranking out these videos, it's so nice to have some decent critics and reviewers finally avail of this platform!
@@akeithing1841 oh I'm sure you could have - books like that are as much about determination and patience as anything else, altho I admit to being completely foiled by Pynchon and Joyce back then lol the more I see people talk on here the more excited I am to get back to it!
@@jonnypaul7260 for real! I can't really read fiction or watch anything anymore. Non fiction for me for the past decade cuz our culture is now...eh. I could still reread Infinite Jest
I put off watching this until I had read my copy of infinite jest. This is an excellent video with wonderful analysis and background on DFW that really gives more context to the novel. I also really enjoyed your interview on the Great Concavity podcast. Thank you for sharing your passion with us Chris, it's incredibly infectious.
An interesting alternate perspective about that real-life lab rat study (1:05:00) where they consumed cocaine laced water instead of regular water (that was the mechanism for pleasure) till they die was that the rats had literally nothing else to do in the cages. It was barren and their lives were empty. So they turned to the only thing around that gave them pleasure, cocaine. When another study was set up with the same 2 water delivery systems, but they were given a whole array of activities like exercise wheels, toys, and other rats to socialize with, they would usually try the cocaine water once but didnt like it all and would abstain thereafter. Theyd live quite healthy lives. I think it's an inportant aspect to consider in addiction treatment, to facilitate a fulfilling life in all aspects. Physical, cognitive, social, creative, a purpose in life, a feeling of adding value to and being accepted by your community, etc..
Production and content wise this is your best work so far. You nail it, especially in your comment of how to read. Most of the times with truly great works it is up to us, the reader, to do the hard work and unveil the beauty to our inexperienced eyes. Keep it up. Excited for GR and Moby Dick and hopefully more classics.
I am finally reading this book, started today. It has been on my to read list for some time. I was astounded by the footnotes particularly footnote 24 in the beginning of the book denoting Hal's fathers filmography including one named Infinite Jest. I am glad that i did not neglect the footnotes. After reading Vollman, this book seems like a much easier book to read than I expected. His prose seems to flow rhythmically and smoothly. I will come back to your video after I finish the book, I am afraid of spoilers.
I've really been looking forward to this video, as you always put out great stuff and Infinite Jest has had a huge impact on me. Btw, I love the long-form content you make. These are the types of books that should incite long thoughtful discussions, and I appreciate that you've become a sort of professor lol, especially because I never studied English or literature in college. You do such a good job bringing in other texts as well that are relevant to your review/analysis/criticism. Though I recognize you can't do this for every video you make, I just wanted to let you know that there is an audience that really loves it. Keep it up!
I really, really appreciate this feedback! After all the reading and recording and editing it is nice to know there are people who appreciate it and get something out of it.
My favorite book, have read it now three or possibly four times. With the most recent read a few months ago I saw so many more connections. As one example, he explains at one point how the sequence you follow to put your socks and shoes on implies something about your politics, and hundreds of pages later there is one short sentence describing John Wayne as of the 'sock-and-a-shoe, sock-and-a-shoe school.' Which is a clue as to John Wayne's affiliation, one of many dozens of mysteries the reader can investigate or not and still enjoy the prose, so often combining hilarity and sadness and grotesqueness all at the same time. Something that bothers me is that I can't remember how I found this book. I know approximately the year I first read it but I literally have no idea how it came into my life. I'm certain I'd never heard of nor read anything by DFW before. One day IJ just materialized. Sometimes I like to just open to a random page and read a bit... about Orin's discovery of his talent for kicking a football, or Don Gately herding the residents out to move their cars because of the ridiculous city ordinance, or memories of The Moms with the rototiller and having Hal tell her he'd just eaten some wicked-looking fungus...
As someone who is almost 3/4 into the book, hearing about the misdeeds of DFW (and then researching further into what happened) really took me aback. But thank you for mentioning that and also giving insight into how to continue valuing this book. As someone who is resonating with this book to a point where I'm able to make a commitment like this, you really helped me process that difficult grey area that I'm sure all of has have faced.
The same thing happened to me when I started reading the biography--which is why I put it aside until later. The first time I read the book I was ignorant of everything about DFW, including his suicide. I was back and forth on whether to even bring it up, but ultimately felt it was important since it colored my experience and would likely do the same for others (now affirmed by you). Glad I could do a small service to rescue the work for you from the checkered past of its artificer.
@@LeafbyLeaf Truly appreciate it. And in a way it really helps me respect the ideas and the craft over some kind of monolithic author. Complexity is difficult but thank you for making it a bit easier :)
I think it’s also got to be placed in context of DFW dealing with mental health issues, recovering from alcoholism and smoking weed every day. And Mary Karr having Borderline Personality Disorder and drinking very heavy at that time. The storm that this would cause between them is as you can imagine, unimaginable. The allegations from Karr: “threw a coffee table” and “tried to push her from a moving car.” Karr then tweeted again: “tried to buy a gun. kicked me. climbed up the side of my house at night. followed my son age 5 home from school. had to change my number twice, and he still got it. months and months it went on.” It isn’t pretty, far from it, but he didn’t really do anything unlawful or hurt anybody. I mean “tried to buy a gun” What does that even mean? You either buy a gun or you don’t. How does someone try to buy a gun and fail? Even if that’s true. Doesn’t that mean he did the right thing? He thought of doing something stupid and then decided against it. “Threw a coffee table” Doesn’t this happen in a lot of relationships? Someone throws a plate against the wall out of frustration? I like Mary Karr and love her work, but I also have an ex who has borderline and drank very heavy. She would make stuff up and dramatize past situations all the time. Especially about exes. This all shouldn’t have happened but to let a very stormy relationship between two (at the time) very disturbed individuals color DFW as a person is maybe a bit too much. Especially since he can’t comment on the matter.
Watched the first 15 minutes of this and can't wait to watch the rest once I finish reading the book. I'm like 300 pages deep so far. Also can't wait to hear your episode of the Great Concavity! I've been into DFW for a while and read some of his other collections last year and have been listening to that podcast a ton. It's a Wallace-centric podcast, but they talk about other stuff so really anyone interested in contemporary literature would enjoy it.
It’s challenging for me to fully express the degree to which Inifinite Jest impacted me. It’s the most brilliant novel I have ever read, and also one of the most potent works of philosophy I’ve encountered. Some people consider it pretentious, but I found it to be the exact opposite of pretentious. It’s perfectly sincere and genuine. It’s an honest expression of human sentiment, and I found it be poignant in a way that I would describe as urgent, haunting, and vital. It might not be for everyone, but I think there’s a specific type of person that Infinite Jest resonates with, and I’m one of those people for sure. I’m still trying to understand how to integrate some of the ideas that Wallace explores in the novel into my life, and I’ll probably spend the rest of my existence thinking about how I can be a good and well human being in the context of the ocean of challenges that we face in this deeply flawed and decaying world we have created for ourselves. I hope that humanity can learn how to escape this trap.
@@LeafbyLeaf I've recommended it to probably 30-50 people over the last decade. 2 started it, 1 finished it and it is their absolute favorite! It's a hard sell.
I do this too but for the Torah ❤🙏😇 It's a different book each time because I am different when I am reading it! I always see things I didn't see before and gain so much each session.
MAN I went for a walk today and decided to take a look into the book exchange box (in which I have never seen anything that interested me) and THIS was in there, haha. It made me think about this channel cause this is where I learned about this book, and indeed I grabbed the thing. I guess we're doing this!
I do not for which video we began this conversation, this one or one on maximalism, or though it is a remote possibility, on another, but we were discussing that the origins of maximalism and modernism in literature, though perhaps only the former, went back to Laurence Sterne's The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, however my reaction at the time, and now, is: what about Rabelais? I can no longer wait ti re-find this conversation to bring up this point with you? If society was as I wished it was your channel's number of subscribers would be multiplied by a thousand, but clearly we do not live in that society. It never ceases to shock me.
I thought it was really telling that JOI discovered his fascination for annular fusion with the whole rolling doorknob scene right after the really disturbing scene with his parents trying to move the mattress. Really ties in with the whole concept of our instinct to retreat from the harshness of reality via a "will to give oneself away" mentioned later by Hal (& which you bring up around 70 minutes into this video).
Great video! Reading Infinite Jest is such a rich experience that you can make an hour long video that feels complete, where you go into detail about your favorite moments and passages, yet still not even mention some of my personal favorite parts. The book is so all-encompassing that there's something for everyone in it. I read IJ a year ago, and there are certain scenes that are still burned into my memory. The part where Orin battles the cockroaches, leaving overturned bowls all over the floor of his apartment. The part about the murders of the dogs and cats that eventually cause the fight that gets Gately sent to the hospital. Joanne's attempted suicide in the bathroom (reminds me of the first chapter of A Heart so White by Javier Marias) and the small details leading up to it, like the Big Red soda (I too associate the taste of Bog Red with a more innocent time). The chapter about the guy (don't remember his name) waiting for his drug dealer, watching a fly weave in and out of the blinds on the window. And of course, the beautiful list of things you learn in a halfway house that hits around page 200 ("That sometimes human beings have to just sit in one place and, like, hurt." "That everybody is identical in their secret unspoken belief that way deep down they are different from everyone else." "That no single, individual moment is in and of itself unendurable.") There's so much to dive into in IJ. You're review got me thinking about a lot of things I'd missed when I read it. Definitely looking forward to a reread sometime in the next few years.
You're 100% correct here. The daunting task of trying to make a relatively complete video on a book like this almost stopped me from doing it altogether. Even when I made the video "go live" this morning, I thought, "This is such a poor attempt at talking about this book." And, mind you, I shaved a little over 45 minutes off of the raw video I shot, for various reasons, to keep the length of the video as palatable as possible. There are so very many scenes and elements to the book. It is a smorgasbord for everyone, as you say. Thanks for listing out some of your thoughts here. Perhaps I will make a followup video at some point and dig into some things a little more deeply. Take care and thanks for your comment!
@@LeafbyLeaf It's just the nature of the beast when it comes to reviewing books, especially a book as large and dense as Infinite Jest. I think you did a really good job. I've watched a few IJ reviews on youtube, and yours was by far the best and most comprehensive that I've seen. Also looking forward to that Moby Dick review you mentioned! Love the channel, keep up the great work.
I am in the extremely compromised position of being 200 pages into this book and not wanting to spoil anything while also wanting to finish watching your eloquent, engaging, and alluring video. Even if it takes me two more months to dive into your analysis of the book, well done!
I read this last year. What was really infortunate was that the copy I bought (same edition as in this video) had a repeat of about thirty pages in the last 150 pages of the book. For a second I thought it was intentional, but no, just a mistake. Really bummed me out, lost my momentum in finishing the thing. Ended up reading a bit online and then finishing the book. Love the description of the addict in the house.
I read this over a summer a number of years ago. I used an elastic band to function as a double bookmark, a device that was very much required what with the incessant jumping from footnote to subfootnote and back again. A wonderful book but very much a project. At the time I was just finishing up Stephen King's Dark Tower and so the nature of the ending resonated even more, being quite similar, structurally.
I like the elastic-band apparatus! I just used two bookmarks (though you have to choose the more stationary "footnote" bookmark wisely so as to preempt slippage).
You did a great job delving the depths of this book. I have not yet read the biography of David Foster Mall so I was not aware of the allegations made against him but I've been noticing this more and more that a artist personal life is becoming the basis of whether or not their work should be considered valid I can say this I've been through some rocky relationships in my time and sometimes people say and do things that they wouldn't normally do otherwise because of the deep personal feelings involved and that is not an ally justification for any sort of abuse but I'm noticing it's getting really easy to yell abuse over something as simple as like emails and text messages now I have to go read the biography to make sure that I am not putting my foot in my mouth. I don't know what to really extend the abuse was And I am a person who was rais ed by my mother and grandmother and who has had a best friend going on 30 years that was a woman and several other friends that are women of which they have been no sexual relationships so I do not condone violence against women but I do know this sometimes in a relationship you say horrible things and sometimes I think there needs to be more clear cut division between things set in the heat of the moment and actual abuse. Now I'm going to go read that biography and make sure I did not just make an ass of myself. That being said once again next one job on the video. Thank you for judging the work on it's merritt.
I appreciate the things you’re saying here. We are walking a fine balance between allowing each other to be human (with all the inconsistency and emotion) and tolerating crossings of the line. It’s a tough thing (bad). I am willing to bet DFW would be very distraught over some of the stuff in the biography (some of which I feel was totally unnecessary, thought I didn’t want to get into all that in the video). William Gaddis, of course, was huge on keeping separation between author and book. In any case, it’s all out there for DFW. There’s a graduate student who is a woman and working through how it is she can admire his work so much (the guys from The Great Concavity were telling me about that).
Rather than the block of marble, i would say we are insects who have landed on a part of the David, or perhaps more appropriately, the ecstacy of st teresa, and we must transcend our transitory consciousness and gain new ways of seeing and remembering to get a sense of the whole artwork.
I just finished Infinite jest yesterday, it was a wonderful experience, and your video clarified me a lot of things I did not get. There is just something... When you mention the thing about something implanted in Hal's mind, I don't understand this yet, when I re read that part I just got confused jaja, I think that what happens to Hal is the biggest mistery of the book, a lot of theories and a lot of doubts. Anyways, thanks again for your excellent reviews, greetings from Colombia!!!
Hey there! Thanks for the comment and the compliments. ***Possible Spoilers ahead*** I can only speculate (we can all only speculate, I think) about the mechanisms implanted in James's head, but I'm specifically thinking about his obsession with filmmaking gear, especially lenses. There's another point in the book that talks about how he attempted to create a lens that would capture footage as if seen through the innocent eyes of an infant (remember the references to Joelle as mother, seen from POV of a crib, etc.). And, of course, we know he committed suicide à la Sylvia Plath, but in a microwave instead of in an oven. Finally, the book mentions that the original cartridge of the Infinite Jest film is said to be buried with James (perhaps in his head). Putting all this together, it makes me wonder if James had the special lens implanted in his head so that he could record IJ with his own body/eyes/mind. That's one of my speculations that I was referring to, but I didn't want to say all that in the video because some people may not have read it yet.
My favorite novel ever. I've read it four times. Your analysis is wonderful and on point. Wallace changed the way I saw the world when I first read it in 1999. As well as my ideas of reading. The Poor Tony parts are some of my favorites, as well as The Stork's filmography. I'm also a Vollmann fan. Although your shelves are larger, mine is very much like yours. Great job! Love all your videos.
Loved this review. You really nailed all the themes IJ covers: our addiction to pleasure etc., such an ambitious, brilliant book. (skipped through the #metoo stuff, already passe, we have new "hashtag movements" to worry about two year later, thankfully). Thumbs up.
Thanks so much! It's sad that it seems new hashtag movements are supplanting others on a near-daily basis these days. What a world we live in! Fun fact: I am currently a little over halfway through my third time reading _IJ_ and I plan to do a video commentary on each page. Stay tuned!
@@LeafbyLeaf Would love to see that. I find it interesting that after reading it each time I find myself writing in the DFW style. It really affects you. Reading IJ is like getting an MBA in writing.
Damn that video was one of the best discussions on IJ ive ever heard/read. Right up there with Michael Silverblatts interview. If only DFW was still alive, id love to email him at least...
@@LeafbyLeaf no prob :). If only he was alive I could see him on so many online podcasts, where the discussion is unbroken and free form. Most of those radio interviews are so tailored to attracting potential buyers of the book, rather than a deep discussion.
Going into my first read of Infinite Jest, I was stuck in a late teenage "ironic" phase where I somehow got the notion that it was uncool to care or uncool to try. IJ ended that phase for me and my life is much better because of it. I'm interested in reading it again, especially after thinking a lot about the chasm between thought and action, intuition and calculation, or the apophatic and the describable, in the sense that someone with a PhD in Decision Theory might not make better life decisions, or that mastering physics won't help you catch a baseball. Maybe by losing religion/spirituality we also lost the faith required for action. Anyway, I think those (potential) themes totally passed me by on my first read. Glad I stumbled across this video, and excited to dig in again!
Thank you so much for this comment. It moved me, to be honest. You've really captured something of the essence of the importance of reading and maturing here. Thank you!
A magnificent video. I look forward to a re-read and picking up some of your references and support texts. When you post the link to the podcast, I will listen to that fervently. I think I agree with you that I would rather not know how DFW acted in real life. The interviews are probably the closest I'll get to his biography. Though even those afford a sense of mimesis.
@@LeafbyLeaf Yes. No way...I was there this afternoon! I almost bought the 20th anniversary edition they had. Small world.They have a really good selection. :)
Thank you for recommending that book on Wagner. I need to read it. I've always felt that it's kinda beautiful that terrible people can make art that adds so much joy to the world. The world would be a much more awful place if bad people contributed nothing positive to the world. That doesn't mean I give a pass to morally corrupt people just because they've made great art. However, if their works are valuable to so many people, I don't see how removing them does any good. It's possible to celebrate the work without glorifying the person who made it.
Aside from those who have pointed out that the opening two words--"I am"--answer the opening two word's of _Hamlet_ (the play from which _IJ_ gets its title)--"Who's there?--I now see it as a belated reaction to the pep talk Hal's grandfather gave Hal's dad (James O. Incandenza) in the garage in 1960, and which we get on page 159: "Son, you're a body, son. That quick little scientific-prodigy's mind she's so proud of and won't quit twittering about: son, it's just neural spasms, those thoughts in your mind are just the sound of your head revving, and head is still just body, Jim. Commit this to memory. Head is body. Jim, brace yourself against my shoulders here for this hard news, at ten: you're a machine a body an object, Jim...." The second paragraph on the opening page is one sentence: Hal "saying": I am in here. Presumably this paternal-line pep talk has been passed down the line, and I think Hal is carrying the message his father wanted to respond with: there is an "I" in here in this head-body-machine, too!
I've re-read Infinite Jest about 30 times. Well. I've re-read the first 5 pages about 30 times. One day I'll get to the 6th. The internet has ruined my brain.
@@LeafbyLeaf I finished chapter 1! And it only took a full week, constant interruptions, and 200 separate instances of searching for it on RUclips, mindlessly hoping the value of this book could just be jammed into me without having to actually do anything. Media. The cause of and solution to all of life's problems
Great stuff, Chris! Just in time. I've just finished reading Although of course you end up becoming yourself. I'm now considering rereading Infinite Jest
@@LeafbyLeaf yeah definitely very interesting. I also did not know about the allegations of David Foster Wallace not being the best dude. It kind of makes sense and is sad, but I agree with the "separating the art from the artist" mentality to a certain extent. Up until the point where the things that are bad about the person are so apparent in the art that you can't enjoy it anymore, this is how I feel about Kanye West haha. My favorite article of DFW is the one about the AVN Awards. The introduction about how a lot of men castrating themselves is really interesting to me (and was also my intro to his work. My friend was like "have you heard of this really smart dude who killed himself and always talks about men castrating themselves? I forget his name..."). I think that kind of plays in to the theme of Infinite Jest too. People get so investing in finding pleasure that they will do anything to make it stop. I also find it interesting how the slang that he always uses for killing someone is "de-mapping" but I don't know exactly what to make of that. Also, what do you make of his seemingly unnecessary use of the N-word and other racial slurs? It made me really dislike Don Gately as a character. Is it just to show that he is uneducated? But anyways, I assumed that in the year between when Hal visits Arizona State at the beginning and where the novel ends he takes DMZ and that is what gives him the severe mental issues. I kept waiting throughout the novel for that to happen. What do you think?
Amazing video, I've watched a few times now along with your tips on reading big books. I've got through about a third of this book now and I feel it's just not something that resonates. You should read Against The Day if you like mega novels, my favourite piece from Pynchon. Love the channel.
It's one of that rare books that, despite the hype from mere fans, is truly a great book. I've read all of Pynchon's books, and, you're right, AtD is a solid, solid one. I still prefer GR and M&D, but AtD deserves a dedicated video on this channel. Thanks for the nudge!
@@LeafbyLeaf Hi Chris, wanted to say that your comment gave me the motivation to pick this one back up. Had to return to library but started from scratch with hardback copy I bought some weeks later. Found it a great read, thank you. Early vs late Wittgenstein was an interesting take I came across. Hal/the Moms using language as a matter of technical mastery and logical prowess lose the ability relate to each other and descend into solipsism, whereas Don Gately uses the language game provided by AA, lacking the technical achievements of Hal's language, to achieve an amazing feat of personal liberation and support growing bonds in the community. So much stuff in this book man. Thank you so much, you are providing a wonderful service to humanity and cultural development.
This was the first "serious" novel that I ever read about 2 or 3 years ago. I fucking loved it, I can even remember where I was when I read a some of the passages. Nice hearing and seeing a lengthy discussion on it. Don Gately in the hospital is one of the most epic narrative moves I ever came across in all storytelling; be it literature, film, manga or animation. Btw have you read Life A Users Manual by Georges Perec? I'm reading that 700 page fattie right now and it's wonderful oddball of a novel at that! Care to review it some time? I think you would appreciate that book and would be able to explore some interesting "spaces"( both figuratively and literally) within it, as it has quite the nice "interior"(literally).
Awesome, man! It is definitely one of those resonant books that winds itself around your sense memory. I found myself also remembering where I was when I read parts of it. It becomes, like all great books, an extension of your soul. Yes, I’ve read Perec’s big book, hopping like a chess knight from apartment to apartment. Just recently read a good study that included it in the discussion (The Cruft of Fiction, which I’ll have a video on soon).
I've noticed many people who read GR feel like never reading it again immediately after reading it, but many of them eventually cave and read it again. Happened to me too. It's like it's scratching the back of your mind till you give in.
When I tried reading it several years ago I gave up after 100 pp. I thought it was impenetrable like Ulysses, and there were many other books I wanted to get to. But with this new insight I think I’ll give it another try
Wow, that is very humbling that you'd consider to give it another go because of this video. Thank you. Of course, I maintain that these types of books aren't to everyone's taste and there's nothing wrong with not liking it. There are plenty of books out there. That said, I do plan to do another video on this one soon that I hope might help more people unlock the joys of reading _IJ_ . All best to you!
Twofold: One, as a gag because at the time of posting there was a spike in monolith sightings around the world. Two, as an homage to _2001_ because this book has caused such an outlandish (deliberately used word) interruption in literature.
I would also like to add that the book seems invested, not only in waste functions, but in the whole digestive system as well. We see characters who: - obsess over their mouth/teeth (Revere ADA's wife, Hal who's toothbrush is mysteriously left out when the 1st person narration starts, Gately is an oral narcotics addict [and smoking/drinking involves the mouth for obvious reasons], Joelle panics about her teeth when Gately is hospitalized), - struggle with bowel problems (Struck who has chrons and his father passed from ulcerative colitis, Hal with the mold still lingering inside his body, the addicts almost always have degenerating guts) - fart a lot (too many examples to count) - and narration that fixates on waste functions (trash catapults, Poor Tony Krause in the library, the Irish AA guy who waxed lyrical about his solid stool, the victims of IJ defecating themselves). There's surely a lot that I missed along with explicit head/body dualities but I think the digestive system is another layer to that overall theme.
I don't know what caused me to think this, and i haven't read this book in a number of years, i toyed with the idea that Mario created the film Infinite Jest or perhaps edited a version of his father's. Just based off the footnotes and how there were so many versions of the film i can't but think Mario had a part in the film given how he's the only one i can remember actually filming anything. Edit: not sure if anything i wrote above is pertinent to the overall story. Also, I had skimmed through the A.A book and couldn't help but notice how similar it read to Infinite Jest in the sense A.A has these confessional backstories of these sad, lost individuals in America.
That's an interesting theory! The only wrench is that Joelle never references Mario at all--only James (well, and Orin, of course; but in relation to the film, only James)--when she talks about the making of the film. Now, that doesn't mean that your theory of Mario *editing* one of the many IJs in post-production is invalidated though. There is a lot of Mario filming things (and a mysterious camera on tripod on the ETA grounds), etc. Another prevailing theory is that Orin was behind the dissemination of the cartridge. As for the AA Big Book, I need to procure a copy and check that out. Really interesting detail you've put there about the similar form. Almost like DFW was, in a way, writing his own NA/AA Big Book. :)
Thanks! Hmmmmm, not really anything of substance. I only really noted the satirical nature of the depiction à la the parodying of academic journals/essays/etc. But you've given me something to bear in mind now.
Some truths can only be felt, experienced, and perceived, they cannot be taught directly, or the student (or reader) will raise their defenses. This is the “art of indirect communication.” Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and apparently DFW believed this. On a slightly different note, I like DFW's antidote to our modern malaise and excessive use of irony: “...since to be really human (at least as he conceptualizes it) is probably to be unavoidably sentimental and naive and goo-prone and generally pathetic...” That is, cheesiness and sincerity, I think.😊
Yes, I agree. For all of the detractors crying "pretension" at DFW, I think he yearned to be as genuine as possible and make a real, human connection. He was an extremely gifted and intelligent guy, but I think he wrestled with that cutting him off from just being a messy human.
I've had IJ sitting on my shelf for several years now. Might have to finally take the plunge. Right now I'm getting through Knausgaard's 'My Struggle.' Have you read it? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
I loved My Struggle. Talked about it in an older video: ruclips.net/video/C9FYEvZJBwM/видео.html. Also published a review of the final volume on Rain Taxi: www.raintaxi.com/my-struggle-book-six/. I do need to do a full video on that work though, especially as I am keen on rereading it.
Superb review! Infinite Jest remains my favourite novel of all time, and I'm excited to find such an expansive, thoughtful treatment of it on RUclips. It's sad to me that DFW is now regarded with such distaste by our culture that one must preface any literary exegesis with a lengthy apologia. His behaviour toward Mary Karr was abusive and creepy and obsessive - there can be no doubt - but I think it's uncharitable to assume defects of character in that tortured young addict shaded or defined everything the man would do throughout his life. He was certainly not the martyred saint that some imagined, but neither was he a misogynistic brute who should now be shunned by polite society. The man was troubled and complex, and so was his fiction. I love your discussion of how to approach a big text like IJ, as a Michelangelo actively chipping at a block of marble to reveal the "beautiful sculpture that is within". I find this approach personally inspiring, and I now want to tackle my (sadly) unfinished copy of The Recognitions with renewed vigour. I'd love to hear your thoughts on The Pale King (perhaps in a standalone segment), which I see very much as a thematic companion to Infinite Jest, this time tackling the under-examined topic of boredom - or more precisely, the source of the malaise that impels us to flee into addiction, pleasure and infinitely diverting entertainment. If Wallace had completed it, I believe The Pale King would've eclipsed Infinite Jest in ambition and profundity.
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it! I think a future video on The Pale King is inevitable, and, you're right, more meditation upon DFW's thoughts about boredom would be especially useful. Best of luck with Gaddis!
great video, LFL! i also practice being an active reader & have to remind myself to (quality) read over (quantity) read. please can i ask you to elaborate more on what you said near the beginning about wallace emptying himself into IJ? do you take that to be relinquishing of a burden (maybe something redemptive about IJ) or simply pouring as much of himself into the book for the purposes he set himself as he can (something mimetic perhaps)? or perhaps you meant something very different. thanks for this video, really great listening to your response.
By that statement (kenosis) I meant an emptying out of all that he had amassed in his thoughts as a means of unburdening himself. Just as people are often told to keep journals to sublimate their burgeoning neuroses (anxiety, depression, etc.), it is like DFW put a lifetime of journal entries (the act of purging one's thoughts each day) into one massive book. But he went further, of course, and took the time to impose an order on the chaos (which is what all great art strives to do).
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
Infinite jest was extremely influential to me. I read it twice while in prison. As a drug addict in recovery I was far more invested in some of the themes than others might be. It shifted my perspective on life (for the better)
I cannot imagine the relevance and resonance of this book on addicts/ex-addicts. I know two other people who’ve found a sort of anchor in IJ. And Michael Silverblatt, a former alcoholic, was close with DFW and has said powerful sentiments about the book.
Wow man I’m glad u turned things around
@@LeafbyLeaf It's "addicts" not "attics." Yikes...
@@chutcentral It's a reference to Infinite Jest, where there is a moment in which 'addict' is intentionally misspelt as 'attic' ...
It’s been very influential on me as well, I struggled with marijuana addiction for years, and after reading Infinite Jest, I kicked my habit completely.
Loved the video. Just finished the book today.Took 36 days, reading at a pace of about 30 pages a day, fifteen in the morning and fifteen at night. I'm a slow reader but once I sort of embraced the density of DFW's style, the book became more and more enjoyable. Borderline emotional when you get to the last footnote and the last page. Felt the same way about The Recognitions, which I actually thought was a little more challenging than IJ.
I stopped once the plot summary began - only because I have yet to read this book - but man let me say, we all really value these types of videos. You are a friend to us, and we appreciate everything.
I really appreciate that. Very kind of you to say. It’s a real joy to be a part of this and know that there are people who care.
Took me 3 days to complete the video. I have never been engrossed in a video like this before, it was almost similar to reading a book. I sincerely thank you for the amount of work you put in your videos. Watching this video has increased my respect and admiration for Infinite Jest. Can’t wait to read it again. Thanks again.
Many thanks for your kind feedback. I tried to get as much into this video as possible without it being totally chaotic and/or unpalatable. So I do appreciate your comment. And I can’t ask for more than that you are now inspired to read it again. Take care!
My favourite scene was when J.O Incandenza's father was teaching him how to treat objects and the physical world. A beautiful expression of what it means to live in the moment
His character is someone Daniel Dennett would be proud of.
He then recalls how he was Christ-like dragged from the court. Sames. But also. So many more!
I also think Ken waiting for his pot dealer to call/deliver Bob Hope for the one last binge was a perfect description of this as well (the bug walking in and out of the hole in the shelving)...
The writing in that scene is truly…incandescent?
@@jstaverskyarms akimbo!
So happy to see this video… Amazing work, Chris!
Really appreciate it, Eddie~!
Have searched for a real analysis video about Infinte Jest for (literally) years. Thank you so much for your work and time on this.
Very nice of you to say. It was a pleasure!
Currently in a literature graduate program and have been revisiting this novel I picked up almost seven years ago. I’ve since reread IJ and have found so much more within each scene and character. The inspiration from Lynch and Kubrick stood out to me during the first read but mentally dissecting this novel over the years has uncovered so much more: the healing qualities of tennis, the morose life of Poor Tony, and Kate Gompert’s heartbreaking admission. Everything about this novel breathed. It’s the truest fiction I’ve ever encountered.
Well said, my friend; well said.
Amazing analysis here. I recently read IJ for the first time and was really moved. 52:39 I love this prufrock connection. In endnote #90(p.1002) when Gately is talking to Geoffrey(who also suffers from debilitating overthinking) about analysis paralysis, he actually responds with a direct quote from the poem: "oh do not ask what is it." so good.
You are the absolute man! Love the deep dives into secondary readings you do for these books. Your curiosity and love of literature are infectious and have truly enriched my life and others.
That is a very high compliment, and I appreciate it so much! It's a labor of love and I so appreciate being able to share my passion with everyone. All my best to you.
“It’s not what’s inside your head, it’s what your head’s inside of.”
A microwave, for instance? (Sorry I couldn’t resist)
Indeed! Or an oven (Plath). I mention the microwave a little later in the video.
Can't wait to watch this tonight when I have time! This is the book that "changed me" more than any other. I think of it almost every day.
Awesome! Hope you get something out of the video. It is a powerful book.
This book changed me too. Ive read it once a year for the past 13 years. It still surprises me and I still am pittimg it together?!?!
One benefit to the pandemic has been the opportunity to read big books like Infinite Jest, Mason & Dixon and Underworld, all of which are far too heavy and cumbersome to read on my usual commute! Can't wait to watch this later as IJ is still somewhat fresh in my mind. Keep up the great work!
I think that the quarantines have definitely been blessings for bookworms, indeed. A good way to look at it. In fact, I read Mason & Dixon during lockdown myself! Hope you enjoy the video.
I always thought it so fascinating that Infinite Jest, Underworld, The Tunnel by William Gass, and Mason & Dixon all came out within 3 years of eachother... Insane
hi! i've recently gotten to familiarize with the enormous amount of work you're putting into this channel and i can safely say you've given me back a love for literature i thought i had long lost: many thanks from a big italian fan of yours!
Grazie grazie!
Been waiting for this video since you announced you were reading it on Twitter. Cant wait to watch. Thanks for the top tier content!
Glad it's finally here. Hope you get something out of it. Thanks so much!
I read Infinite Jest a year ago with a deep reading online group. It was a wonderful read and we had great discussions. I agree Foster Wallace is an intellectual firework, not a peacock. It's so sad that he had a bad ending, but he left us some wonderful works. I like your analogy with Wagner, another flawed artist, but who would want to be without the Ring or any of his other operas. Wagner was a real slimeball, yet his works are sublime, spiritually uplifting. I love that although I'm twice your age and the Atlantic separates us, we can agree on books. My hubby says you are an excellent critic, he often listens in when I'm on my tablet. He's a biker and not a big reader of fiction, but says that he likes the clear way you set out your arguments, and the way you express yourself. He told me to tell you that he thinks "you are one of the good guys'.
Thank you Chris for drawing my attention to this book, which I've now read and absolutely loved. I found myself reading it as if it were being spoken and the rhythm just flowed. As I can't read for as long as I used to (getting used to reading glasses) I would pause after a section, allowing it to sink in as I ruminated. I particulalrly loved how DFW could drop an image in, then pick it up 2- 300 pages later and you'd instantly get it, even preempting at one point (Orin's cockroaches under the glass tumbler in the shower, then later when he's trapped under a giant tumbler). Also, thanks for introducung me to Animals As Leaders! Tosin Abasi is an extraordinary musician and person. Cheers, Ian
This is one of those rare gems that define a decade. So glad you enjoyed its riches. And, yes, Tosin is insane! I've been listening to their new album on repeat for weeks now. Happy reading (and listening)!
@@LeafbyLeaf Yes, 'Parrhesia' is amazing - they're the 21st century King Crimson to me.
This was the first “difficult” novel I read years ago. It’s incredible how much I remember about it since I tend to forget a lot of what i read besides the main plot/themes/ideas. I think it is how he describes things so interestingly. Excellent video
Thanks! I unfortunately didn't talk much about it, but his prose it...contagious.
Absolutely! One other observation I always found fascinating that you didn’t mention was the physical act of going back and forth from the main novel to the footnotes kind of mimics a tennis match.
I trimmed out almost all my banter about the footnotes-but I hadn’t heard that particular notion before. Thanks for sharing that!
That's the thing about this book, it really sticks with you. I also have a problem remembering books, but this one somehow sticks with me.
When I read the first chapter of this novel, it immediately resonated with me on a level I’ve never felt before. Your review is great! For big books like this it’s easy as a reader to feel alone, like you can’t talk to anyone about it. You’ve inspired me to start The Recognitions and put GR on my list. Just finished The Castle by Kafka and feel like you could really dig into that one.
Thanks for your saying so. I’m thrilled that the book resonates with you and that you’ve got something from the video!
I read the first 700 pages of The Recognitions, then stopped, haven't returned to it. JR I never tried. Loved The Crying of Lot 49, but became upset with Vineland, so much so I've never read any Pynchon since. Overall fav of these bigger tomes is Juliette by de Sade; took a breather about six or seven hundred pages into that one as well, put it down for a year, figuring the Marquis was not going to teach me anymore, but on a whim picked it back up and finished. Glad I did. Those last few hundred pages were very much so worth the effort.
But anyway. I wanted to respond to your comment, Ethan, because of The Castle. I read all of The Trial in college, then a few months later tried The Castle. Got about halfway through and it struck me that it was really just about the same as The Trial. Just more of the same.
Request. If you've read both, finished both, tell me why I should go back and finish The Castle.
Heyy ...
Please reply to me I need to ask you about something
@@athraamohammad9176 Have you read both The Trial and The Castle?
Great analysis& IJ breakdown! Found this and realized you were a guest on Concavity pod on Dfw
Thanks so much! 👊🙌
This is such a wonderful video. I simply have no words to express how impactful it was to listen to this in-depth discussion. Also respect for the sensitivity with which you commented on the separation of the work from the actions of the artist as an individual.
This will be my third try with IJ and I really hope I can complete it this time. 🙂
Thank you so very much for your kind and generous words. It's such a pleasure to share my thoughts with other sensitive, close readers. Happy reading!
I see Bottoms Dream over there in the corner. It was thanks to you for an introduction to it. Just ordered it today.
Ooohhhhh, you're in for it now! :)
your discussions are excellent, and they make me feel invigorated and ready to dive into these works of art.
Ahhh, that’s for saying so! Always a pleasure to inspire reading!
I remember that Silberblatt episode. I used to listen. The good news is that the episodes are still available on Spotify or whatever podcast app you use. This is a really wonderful episode of your channel, I was going out into the October sun, but I'm enthralled by this video. I instantly bought the D T Max biography.
This was the book that got me into reading Pynchon and Gaddis. It's a book that also sadly gets a negative rap for its own fan base and how people tend to handle the novel when speaking to others. It's difficult because most people around me would hear what this novel is and immediately say " oh that sounds like work, I'd never read that." I would sadly think inside, that's the point. I will always find it important to sometimes place yourself in an uncomfortable situation so that you can grow or learn something that you never knew before vs always being in a default setting. I'll always find it amazing the correlation between Infinite Jest and This Is Water
It all comes back to what one uses books to achieve. For some it's catharsis, passing the time. For others it's pure study, the increase of knowledge. For still others it's the chase for the aesthetic sublime. There's another who uses books to expand the mind, to learn how to live well. For a great many, I believe, there's a (subconscious) longing to recapture the bliss of being read an enchanting story as a child--this usually manifests as the cry for story/plot above everything, the craft of the writing only gets in the way. Yet there are others who are a blend of all the aforementioned. I think I'm all of these except "passing the time" (what an irreverent use of books!) and "story above all." But, as with everything in this life, we have to learn to respect and appreciate all the different types of people there are. You and I can clasp our copies of IJ to our chests and feel grateful.
@@LeafbyLeaf to this I say huzzah! I would fall into a very similar camp of reader and am always looking to find the uncomfortable. I feel it is through such growing pains that we can learn more about ourselves.
I completely agree-pain is weakness and immaturity leaving the body (or mind). ;-)
I still laugh in public when I see a man with no legs in a wheelchair.
Great video, I havent read anything by Wallace so it was very good introduction. Learnt a great deal today. Thank you!
Many thanks! Wallace is a good one to use for your America series ;-)
@@LeafbyLeaf i am not sure if i can add anything useful to the discussion. but i will take a look.
I’m certain that you can!
Chris, your growth has been amazing to witness. Excited to see your progress continue. Thank you for this.
Thanks so much! It is and will continue to be a work in progress but I feel I’m finding a sort of groove.
Thanks for this, really articulate and well put together. I have extraordinarily fond memories of pouring through and out of Infinite Jest as a heartbroken nineteen year old wandering around Dublin - but admittedly in the years since then (ten, the same as yourself, since I first read it), I have fallen off the Wallace Wagon so to speak. His work meant an awful lot to me at a very pivotal time in my life but I had long ago filed Wallace's work, and indeed, a lot of the rest of the 'new sincerity' movement into the same filing cabinet in which I'd place House of Leaves or A Visit from the Goon Squad. For some reason I really soured to his style, and started to find his tone and the overly intellectualised texture of his work condescending and even arrogant (although on reflection these are clearly problems I bring to the book, rather than the other way around; as such, they are my bugbears to boo). I favoured Gass, Gaddis, Pynchon, Krasznahorkai, Stein, and Joyce, and relegated Wallace to the position of teenage juvenilia. But you've made a really strong, compelling argument for why now might be the absolute best time to heave the book back off the shelf and dive in. Cheers for your time and your thoughts.
Gass, Gaddis, Pynchon, Krasznahorkai, Stein, and Joyce. These are certainly GIANTS! I am glad that you're considering reconsidering DFW, but I can certainly understand your reasoning for the relegation. If you do embark on the journey, I'd love to hear what happens. All my best to you!
I don't think I couldve read it at 19! My first I was 28 and now I'm 40! It still amazes and surprises me. Quite immersive
@@LeafbyLeaf giants they are, and I don't think I'd reorganise how I prioritise my reading around IJ any time soon, but I'm applying for PhD positions at the moment so I imagine if I hear anything one way or the other it'll be the perfect time to open it up again. I never did finish The Pale King (what exists of it at any rate) but I should do. Certainly will, keep cranking out these videos, it's so nice to have some decent critics and reviewers finally avail of this platform!
@@akeithing1841 oh I'm sure you could have - books like that are as much about determination and patience as anything else, altho I admit to being completely foiled by Pynchon and Joyce back then lol the more I see people talk on here the more excited I am to get back to it!
@@jonnypaul7260 for real! I can't really read fiction or watch anything anymore. Non fiction for me for the past decade cuz our culture is now...eh. I could still reread Infinite Jest
I put off watching this until I had read my copy of infinite jest. This is an excellent video with wonderful analysis and background on DFW that really gives more context to the novel. I also really enjoyed your interview on the Great Concavity podcast. Thank you for sharing your passion with us Chris, it's incredibly infectious.
Thanks so much for saying so! It is a pleasure to meet everyone and to share my passion. The obsession must go somewhere!
An interesting alternate perspective about that real-life lab rat study (1:05:00) where they consumed cocaine laced water instead of regular water (that was the mechanism for pleasure) till they die was that the rats had literally nothing else to do in the cages. It was barren and their lives were empty. So they turned to the only thing around that gave them pleasure, cocaine.
When another study was set up with the same 2 water delivery systems, but they were given a whole array of activities like exercise wheels, toys, and other rats to socialize with, they would usually try the cocaine water once but didnt like it all and would abstain thereafter. Theyd live quite healthy lives.
I think it's an inportant aspect to consider in addiction treatment, to facilitate a fulfilling life in all aspects. Physical, cognitive, social, creative, a purpose in life, a feeling of adding value to and being accepted by your community, etc..
Wow. And that ties in perfectly with DFW’s ideas on boredom being a major ailment. Thanks for sharing!
Production and content wise this is your best work so far. You nail it, especially in your comment of how to read. Most of the times with truly great works it is up to us, the reader, to do the hard work and unveil the beauty to our inexperienced eyes. Keep it up. Excited for GR and Moby Dick and hopefully more classics.
Thanks so much for the kind compliments! Really appreciated. This is such a pleasure.
Wow I discovered this channel just the other day and am immediately rewarded
🙏🙏🙏
I am finally reading this book, started today. It has been on my to read list for some time. I was astounded by the footnotes particularly footnote 24 in the beginning of the book denoting Hal's fathers filmography including one named Infinite Jest. I am glad that i did not neglect the footnotes. After reading Vollman, this book seems like a much easier book to read than I expected. His prose seems to flow rhythmically and smoothly. I will come back to your video after I finish the book, I am afraid of spoilers.
I've really been looking forward to this video, as you always put out great stuff and Infinite Jest has had a huge impact on me. Btw, I love the long-form content you make. These are the types of books that should incite long thoughtful discussions, and I appreciate that you've become a sort of professor lol, especially because I never studied English or literature in college. You do such a good job bringing in other texts as well that are relevant to your review/analysis/criticism. Though I recognize you can't do this for every video you make, I just wanted to let you know that there is an audience that really loves it. Keep it up!
I really, really appreciate this feedback! After all the reading and recording and editing it is nice to know there are people who appreciate it and get something out of it.
My favorite book, have read it now three or possibly four times. With the most recent read a few months ago I saw so many more connections. As one example, he explains at one point how the sequence you follow to put your socks and shoes on implies something about your politics, and hundreds of pages later there is one short sentence describing John Wayne as of the 'sock-and-a-shoe, sock-and-a-shoe school.' Which is a clue as to John Wayne's affiliation, one of many dozens of mysteries the reader can investigate or not and still enjoy the prose, so often combining hilarity and sadness and grotesqueness all at the same time.
Something that bothers me is that I can't remember how I found this book. I know approximately the year I first read it but I literally have no idea how it came into my life. I'm certain I'd never heard of nor read anything by DFW before. One day IJ just materialized. Sometimes I like to just open to a random page and read a bit... about Orin's discovery of his talent for kicking a football, or Don Gately herding the residents out to move their cars because of the ridiculous city ordinance, or memories of The Moms with the rototiller and having Hal tell her he'd just eaten some wicked-looking fungus...
Thanks for that tidbit, David! I didn't catch that at all. You're right: there's so much in here to discover, DFW has given us a bottomless book!
Excellent! Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.
Thanks! It was a pleasure.
truly a novel of all time about addiction and depression. tennis too.
As someone who is almost 3/4 into the book, hearing about the misdeeds of DFW (and then researching further into what happened) really took me aback. But thank you for mentioning that and also giving insight into how to continue valuing this book. As someone who is resonating with this book to a point where I'm able to make a commitment like this, you really helped me process that difficult grey area that I'm sure all of has have faced.
The same thing happened to me when I started reading the biography--which is why I put it aside until later. The first time I read the book I was ignorant of everything about DFW, including his suicide. I was back and forth on whether to even bring it up, but ultimately felt it was important since it colored my experience and would likely do the same for others (now affirmed by you). Glad I could do a small service to rescue the work for you from the checkered past of its artificer.
@@LeafbyLeaf Truly appreciate it. And in a way it really helps me respect the ideas and the craft over some kind of monolithic author. Complexity is difficult but thank you for making it a bit easier :)
🙏
I think it’s also got to be placed in context of DFW dealing with mental health issues, recovering from alcoholism and smoking weed every day. And Mary Karr having Borderline Personality Disorder and drinking very heavy at that time. The storm that this would cause between them is as you can imagine, unimaginable.
The allegations from Karr: “threw a coffee table” and “tried to push her from a moving car.” Karr then tweeted again: “tried to buy a gun. kicked me. climbed up the side of my house at night. followed my son age 5 home from school. had to change my number twice, and he still got it. months and months it went on.”
It isn’t pretty, far from it, but he didn’t really do anything unlawful or hurt anybody. I mean “tried to buy a gun” What does that even mean? You either buy a gun or you don’t. How does someone try to buy a gun and fail? Even if that’s true. Doesn’t that mean he did the right thing? He thought of doing something stupid and then decided against it. “Threw a coffee table” Doesn’t this happen in a lot of relationships? Someone throws a plate against the wall out of frustration?
I like Mary Karr and love her work, but I also have an ex who has borderline and drank very heavy. She would make stuff up and dramatize past situations all the time. Especially about exes.
This all shouldn’t have happened but to let a very stormy relationship between two (at the time) very disturbed individuals color DFW as a person is maybe a bit too much. Especially since he can’t comment on the matter.
Very, very well said.
Watched the first 15 minutes of this and can't wait to watch the rest once I finish reading the book. I'm like 300 pages deep so far. Also can't wait to hear your episode of the Great Concavity! I've been into DFW for a while and read some of his other collections last year and have been listening to that podcast a ton. It's a Wallace-centric podcast, but they talk about other stuff so really anyone interested in contemporary literature would enjoy it.
Right on! The GC episode should be coming out fairly soon. I'm nervous and excited. Hope I did them justice.
It’s challenging for me to fully express the degree to which Inifinite Jest impacted me. It’s the most brilliant novel I have ever read, and also one of the most potent works of philosophy I’ve encountered. Some people consider it pretentious, but I found it to be the exact opposite of pretentious. It’s perfectly sincere and genuine. It’s an honest expression of human sentiment, and I found it be poignant in a way that I would describe as urgent, haunting, and vital. It might not be for everyone, but I think there’s a specific type of person that Infinite Jest resonates with, and I’m one of those people for sure. I’m still trying to understand how to integrate some of the ideas that Wallace explores in the novel into my life, and I’ll probably spend the rest of my existence thinking about how I can be a good and well human being in the context of the ocean of challenges that we face in this deeply flawed and decaying world we have created for ourselves. I hope that humanity can learn how to escape this trap.
Really excellent video introduction and overview to the novel and the resources to help understand it! Thank you :)
My pleasure!
Been waiting for this video for a while, awesome job - hopefully I'll make my own video about IJ!
Thanks! Please do!
I've read Infinite Jest once a year for the past 13 years! It still surprises me which is hard to fathom.
WHOA!
@@LeafbyLeaf I know. Insane but as you know there's a Lot to love and think about!
Oh, indeed! And your continued interest is testament to that!
@@LeafbyLeaf I've recommended it to probably 30-50 people over the last decade. 2 started it, 1 finished it and it is their absolute favorite! It's a hard sell.
I do this too but for the Torah ❤🙏😇
It's a different book each time because I am different when I am reading it!
I always see things I didn't see before and gain so much each session.
This is spectacular! I won't be getting much work done this morning...
Thanks! And-you’re welcome! 😜
MAN I went for a walk today and decided to take a look into the book exchange box (in which I have never seen anything that interested me) and THIS was in there, haha. It made me think about this channel cause this is where I learned about this book, and indeed I grabbed the thing. I guess we're doing this!
Good choice. Start around 2/3 of the way in, or thereabouts and return to the beginning.. I think DFW himself recommended this.
How did it go?
I do not for which video we began this conversation, this one or one on maximalism, or though it is a remote possibility, on another, but we were discussing that the origins of maximalism and modernism in literature, though perhaps only the former, went back to Laurence Sterne's The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, however my reaction at the time, and now, is: what about Rabelais? I can no longer wait ti re-find this conversation to bring up this point with you? If society was as I wished it was your channel's number of subscribers would be multiplied by a thousand, but clearly we do not live in that society. It never ceases to shock me.
I thought it was really telling that JOI discovered his fascination for annular fusion with the whole rolling doorknob scene right after the really disturbing scene with his parents trying to move the mattress. Really ties in with the whole concept of our instinct to retreat from the harshness of reality via a "will to give oneself away" mentioned later by Hal (& which you bring up around 70 minutes into this video).
You've just made me want to read this one all over again!
Great video! Reading Infinite Jest is such a rich experience that you can make an hour long video that feels complete, where you go into detail about your favorite moments and passages, yet still not even mention some of my personal favorite parts. The book is so all-encompassing that there's something for everyone in it.
I read IJ a year ago, and there are certain scenes that are still burned into my memory. The part where Orin battles the cockroaches, leaving overturned bowls all over the floor of his apartment. The part about the murders of the dogs and cats that eventually cause the fight that gets Gately sent to the hospital. Joanne's attempted suicide in the bathroom (reminds me of the first chapter of A Heart so White by Javier Marias) and the small details leading up to it, like the Big Red soda (I too associate the taste of Bog Red with a more innocent time). The chapter about the guy (don't remember his name) waiting for his drug dealer, watching a fly weave in and out of the blinds on the window. And of course, the beautiful list of things you learn in a halfway house that hits around page 200 ("That sometimes human beings have to just sit in one place and, like, hurt." "That everybody is identical in their secret unspoken belief that way deep down they are different from everyone else." "That no single, individual moment is in and of itself unendurable.")
There's so much to dive into in IJ. You're review got me thinking about a lot of things I'd missed when I read it. Definitely looking forward to a reread sometime in the next few years.
You're 100% correct here. The daunting task of trying to make a relatively complete video on a book like this almost stopped me from doing it altogether. Even when I made the video "go live" this morning, I thought, "This is such a poor attempt at talking about this book." And, mind you, I shaved a little over 45 minutes off of the raw video I shot, for various reasons, to keep the length of the video as palatable as possible. There are so very many scenes and elements to the book. It is a smorgasbord for everyone, as you say. Thanks for listing out some of your thoughts here. Perhaps I will make a followup video at some point and dig into some things a little more deeply.
Take care and thanks for your comment!
@@LeafbyLeaf It's just the nature of the beast when it comes to reviewing books, especially a book as large and dense as Infinite Jest. I think you did a really good job. I've watched a few IJ reviews on youtube, and yours was by far the best and most comprehensive that I've seen.
Also looking forward to that Moby Dick review you mentioned! Love the channel, keep up the great work.
Right on and thanks!
I am in the extremely compromised position of being 200 pages into this book and not wanting to spoil anything while also wanting to finish watching your eloquent, engaging, and alluring video.
Even if it takes me two more months to dive into your analysis of the book, well done!
I would say: save the video and press on with the book! Happy reading!
This is incredible. Thank you so much for this, Chris
Thanks, Esteban! 👊
I read this last year. What was really infortunate was that the copy I bought (same edition as in this video) had a repeat of about thirty pages in the last 150 pages of the book. For a second I thought it was intentional, but no, just a mistake. Really bummed me out, lost my momentum in finishing the thing. Ended up reading a bit online and then finishing the book.
Love the description of the addict in the house.
NO WAY! I hate when printing errors like that show up!
Good high quality channel, deep discussion
Thanks so much!
Beautifully amalgamated. Thanks as always!
Thanks so much!
Rereading right now. Such pleasure. Such discoveries. Can’t continue to watch this excellent vid coz spoilers 😅😅😅 will do in a month ❤
I'll be here! :)
Finally, a video big enough to cover Infinite Jest!
😁🙏🤟
I read this over a summer a number of years ago. I used an elastic band to function as a double bookmark, a device that was very much required what with the incessant jumping from footnote to subfootnote and back again. A wonderful book but very much a project. At the time I was just finishing up Stephen King's Dark Tower and so the nature of the ending resonated even more, being quite similar, structurally.
I like the elastic-band apparatus! I just used two bookmarks (though you have to choose the more stationary "footnote" bookmark wisely so as to preempt slippage).
What a monumental video Chris!
Thanks, my friend!
You did a great job delving the depths of this book. I have not yet read the biography of David Foster Mall so I was not aware of the allegations made against him but I've been noticing this more and more that a artist personal life is becoming the basis of whether or not their work should be considered valid I can say this I've been through some rocky relationships in my time and sometimes people say and do things that they wouldn't normally do otherwise because of the deep personal feelings involved and that is not an ally justification for any sort of abuse but I'm noticing it's getting really easy to yell abuse over something as simple as like emails and text messages now I have to go read the biography to make sure that I am not putting my foot in my mouth. I don't know what to really extend the abuse was And I am a person who was rais ed by my mother and grandmother and who has had a best friend going on 30 years that was a woman and several other friends that are women of which they have been no sexual relationships so I do not condone violence against women but I do know this sometimes in a relationship you say horrible things and sometimes I think there needs to be more clear cut division between things set in the heat of the moment and actual abuse. Now I'm going to go read that biography and make sure I did not just make an ass of myself.
That being said once again next one job on the video. Thank you for judging the work on it's merritt.
I appreciate the things you’re saying here. We are walking a fine balance between allowing each other to be human (with all the inconsistency and emotion) and tolerating crossings of the line. It’s a tough thing (bad). I am willing to bet DFW would be very distraught over some of the stuff in the biography (some of which I feel was totally unnecessary, thought I didn’t want to get into all that in the video). William Gaddis, of course, was huge on keeping separation between author and book. In any case, it’s all out there for DFW. There’s a graduate student who is a woman and working through how it is she can admire his work so much (the guys from The Great Concavity were telling me about that).
Egopanopticism!
Rather than the block of marble, i would say we are insects who have landed on a part of the David, or perhaps more appropriately, the ecstacy of st teresa, and we must transcend our transitory consciousness and gain new ways of seeing and remembering to get a sense of the whole artwork.
I just finished Infinite jest yesterday, it was a wonderful experience, and your video clarified me a lot of things I did not get. There is just something... When you mention the thing about something implanted in Hal's mind, I don't understand this yet, when I re read that part I just got confused jaja, I think that what happens to Hal is the biggest mistery of the book, a lot of theories and a lot of doubts. Anyways, thanks again for your excellent reviews, greetings from Colombia!!!
Hey there! Thanks for the comment and the compliments. ***Possible Spoilers ahead*** I can only speculate (we can all only speculate, I think) about the mechanisms implanted in James's head, but I'm specifically thinking about his obsession with filmmaking gear, especially lenses. There's another point in the book that talks about how he attempted to create a lens that would capture footage as if seen through the innocent eyes of an infant (remember the references to Joelle as mother, seen from POV of a crib, etc.). And, of course, we know he committed suicide à la Sylvia Plath, but in a microwave instead of in an oven. Finally, the book mentions that the original cartridge of the Infinite Jest film is said to be buried with James (perhaps in his head). Putting all this together, it makes me wonder if James had the special lens implanted in his head so that he could record IJ with his own body/eyes/mind. That's one of my speculations that I was referring to, but I didn't want to say all that in the video because some people may not have read it yet.
Loving the thumbnail! Not sure if this was the intention, but it looks like the inexplicable slab at the start of 2001: A Space Odyssey
Exactly! Of course, I took this picture from the one of many recent monolith sightings. But, yes, I wanted to allude to the imposing Kubrick monolith!
My favorite novel ever. I've read it four times. Your analysis is wonderful and on point. Wallace changed the way I saw the world when I first read it in 1999. As well as my ideas of reading. The Poor Tony parts are some of my favorites, as well as The Stork's filmography. I'm also a Vollmann fan. Although your shelves are larger, mine is very much like yours. Great job! Love all your videos.
Thanks so much! Here’s to DFW and WTV! 🙌🙌🙌
Loved this review. You really nailed all the themes IJ covers: our addiction to pleasure etc., such an ambitious, brilliant book. (skipped through the #metoo stuff, already passe, we have new "hashtag movements" to worry about two year later, thankfully). Thumbs up.
Thanks so much! It's sad that it seems new hashtag movements are supplanting others on a near-daily basis these days. What a world we live in! Fun fact: I am currently a little over halfway through my third time reading _IJ_ and I plan to do a video commentary on each page. Stay tuned!
@@LeafbyLeaf Would love to see that. I find it interesting that after reading it each time I find myself writing in the DFW style. It really affects you. Reading IJ is like getting an MBA in writing.
I have experienced the same phenomenon! 😮
Damn that video was one of the best discussions on IJ ive ever heard/read. Right up there with Michael Silverblatts interview. If only DFW was still alive, id love to email him at least...
Wow, thank you so much for your generous compliments! I totally agree with your sentiment concerning DFW. Alas.
@@LeafbyLeaf no prob :). If only he was alive I could see him on so many online podcasts, where the discussion is unbroken and free form. Most of those radio interviews are so tailored to attracting potential buyers of the book, rather than a deep discussion.
I would do my best to make a 12-hour video with him!
Going into my first read of Infinite Jest, I was stuck in a late teenage "ironic" phase where I somehow got the notion that it was uncool to care or uncool to try. IJ ended that phase for me and my life is much better because of it.
I'm interested in reading it again, especially after thinking a lot about the chasm between thought and action, intuition and calculation, or the apophatic and the describable, in the sense that someone with a PhD in Decision Theory might not make better life decisions, or that mastering physics won't help you catch a baseball. Maybe by losing religion/spirituality we also lost the faith required for action.
Anyway, I think those (potential) themes totally passed me by on my first read. Glad I stumbled across this video, and excited to dig in again!
Thank you so much for this comment. It moved me, to be honest. You've really captured something of the essence of the importance of reading and maturing here. Thank you!
@@LeafbyLeaf That means a lot - keep up the great work!
"IJ is the anatomy of melancholy" = at 10:40 = you nailed it Chris!
Thanks for the recognition, Drax! Indeed, I stand by it--IJ is the Anatomy of Melancholy for our time.
So insightful. You made want to reread it! Maybe one day.
So glad to have inspired you to have a go at it!
Thank you so much . i will read Infinite Jest
A magnificent video. I look forward to a re-read and picking up some of your references and support texts. When you post the link to the podcast, I will listen to that fervently. I think I agree with you that I would rather not know how DFW acted in real life. The interviews are probably the closest I'll get to his biography. Though even those afford a sense of mimesis.
Thanks! In truth I am still ambivalent about having read the biography but I couldn’t help but read it.
Almost bought it today and ended up putting it back. I might go back and get it after this!
You’re in Greensboro, right? Where did you see it? I was at Scuppernong downtown earlier looking at books.
@@LeafbyLeaf Yes. No way...I was there this afternoon! I almost bought the 20th anniversary edition they had. Small world.They have a really good selection. :)
Wild!
Great video, Chris !!!!
Many, many thanks!
Thank you for recommending that book on Wagner. I need to read it. I've always felt that it's kinda beautiful that terrible people can make art that adds so much joy to the world. The world would be a much more awful place if bad people contributed nothing positive to the world. That doesn't mean I give a pass to morally corrupt people just because they've made great art. However, if their works are valuable to so many people, I don't see how removing them does any good. It's possible to celebrate the work without glorifying the person who made it.
You and I are very much on the same page.
Enjoy the book!
Any thoughts on the first sentence? When I trod this beheamoth the first time 'heads and bodies' almost threw me off.
Aside from those who have pointed out that the opening two words--"I am"--answer the opening two word's of _Hamlet_ (the play from which _IJ_ gets its title)--"Who's there?--I now see it as a belated reaction to the pep talk Hal's grandfather gave Hal's dad (James O. Incandenza) in the garage in 1960, and which we get on page 159: "Son, you're a body, son. That quick little scientific-prodigy's mind she's so proud of and won't quit twittering about: son, it's just neural spasms, those thoughts in your mind are just the sound of your head revving, and head is still just body, Jim. Commit this to memory. Head is body. Jim, brace yourself against my shoulders here for this hard news, at ten: you're a machine a body an object, Jim...." The second paragraph on the opening page is one sentence: Hal "saying": I am in here. Presumably this paternal-line pep talk has been passed down the line, and I think Hal is carrying the message his father wanted to respond with: there is an "I" in here in this head-body-machine, too!
@@LeafbyLeaf This makes me want to reread it again, DFW is otherworldly! Thank you so much!
I happen to be unexpectedly reading it for my third time right now! :)
I've re-read Infinite Jest about 30 times. Well. I've re-read the first 5 pages about 30 times. One day I'll get to the 6th.
The internet has ruined my brain.
This is great! 😂
@@LeafbyLeaf I finished chapter 1! And it only took a full week, constant interruptions, and 200 separate instances of searching for it on RUclips, mindlessly hoping the value of this book could just be jammed into me without having to actually do anything.
Media. The cause of and solution to all of life's problems
Haha! This is great!
Great stuff, Chris! Just in time. I've just finished reading Although of course you end up becoming yourself. I'm now considering rereading Infinite Jest
Go for it!
cracking up at the thumbnail. cheers brother
Thanks, man! I was really proud of it!
Wow, good timing. I just finished the book and am looking for interpretation.
Right on! Hope you get something out of the video.
@@LeafbyLeaf yeah definitely very interesting. I also did not know about the allegations of David Foster Wallace not being the best dude. It kind of makes sense and is sad, but I agree with the "separating the art from the artist" mentality to a certain extent. Up until the point where the things that are bad about the person are so apparent in the art that you can't enjoy it anymore, this is how I feel about Kanye West haha.
My favorite article of DFW is the one about the AVN Awards. The introduction about how a lot of men castrating themselves is really interesting to me (and was also my intro to his work. My friend was like "have you heard of this really smart dude who killed himself and always talks about men castrating themselves? I forget his name..."). I think that kind of plays in to the theme of Infinite Jest too. People get so investing in finding pleasure that they will do anything to make it stop.
I also find it interesting how the slang that he always uses for killing someone is "de-mapping" but I don't know exactly what to make of that. Also, what do you make of his seemingly unnecessary use of the N-word and other racial slurs? It made me really dislike Don Gately as a character. Is it just to show that he is uneducated?
But anyways, I assumed that in the year between when Hal visits Arizona State at the beginning and where the novel ends he takes DMZ and that is what gives him the severe mental issues. I kept waiting throughout the novel for that to happen. What do you think?
Amazing video, I've watched a few times now along with your tips on reading big books. I've got through about a third of this book now and I feel it's just not something that resonates. You should read Against The Day if you like mega novels, my favourite piece from Pynchon. Love the channel.
It's one of that rare books that, despite the hype from mere fans, is truly a great book. I've read all of Pynchon's books, and, you're right, AtD is a solid, solid one. I still prefer GR and M&D, but AtD deserves a dedicated video on this channel. Thanks for the nudge!
@@LeafbyLeaf Hi Chris, wanted to say that your comment gave me the motivation to pick this one back up. Had to return to library but started from scratch with hardback copy I bought some weeks later. Found it a great read, thank you. Early vs late Wittgenstein was an interesting take I came across. Hal/the Moms using language as a matter of technical mastery and logical prowess lose the ability relate to each other and descend into solipsism, whereas Don Gately uses the language game provided by AA, lacking the technical achievements of Hal's language, to achieve an amazing feat of personal liberation and support growing bonds in the community. So much stuff in this book man. Thank you so much, you are providing a wonderful service to humanity and cultural development.
This was the first "serious" novel that I ever read about 2 or 3 years ago. I fucking loved it, I can even remember where I was when I read a some of the passages. Nice hearing and seeing a lengthy discussion on it. Don Gately in the hospital is one of the most epic narrative moves I ever came across in all storytelling; be it literature, film, manga or animation.
Btw have you read Life A Users Manual by Georges Perec? I'm reading that 700 page fattie right now and it's wonderful oddball of a novel at that! Care to review it some time? I think you would appreciate that book and would be able to explore some interesting "spaces"( both figuratively and literally) within it, as it has quite the nice "interior"(literally).
Awesome, man! It is definitely one of those resonant books that winds itself around your sense memory. I found myself also remembering where I was when I read parts of it. It becomes, like all great books, an extension of your soul.
Yes, I’ve read Perec’s big book, hopping like a chess knight from apartment to apartment. Just recently read a good study that included it in the discussion (The Cruft of Fiction, which I’ll have a video on soon).
One of my favorite books ♥️
Awesomely done ✅
Thank you, doctors!
Can't wait for your rereading of Gravity's Rainbow!
I can’t either!
I've noticed many people who read GR feel like never reading it again immediately after reading it, but many of them eventually cave and read it again. Happened to me too. It's like it's scratching the back of your mind till you give in.
Indeed. It’s like Thanksgiving dinner: immediately after I’m completely stuffed and lethargic, but by the next year I’m craving it again!
When I tried reading it several years ago I gave up after 100 pp. I thought it was impenetrable like Ulysses, and there were many other books I wanted to get to. But with this new insight I think I’ll give it another try
Wow, that is very humbling that you'd consider to give it another go because of this video. Thank you. Of course, I maintain that these types of books aren't to everyone's taste and there's nothing wrong with not liking it. There are plenty of books out there. That said, I do plan to do another video on this one soon that I hope might help more people unlock the joys of reading _IJ_ . All best to you!
Oh baybee this is gonna be a good one ;)
😁😁😁
I’m interested in why you chose the combination of the Monolith and Infinite Jest as your video thumbnail? Hope to hear from you soon!
Twofold: One, as a gag because at the time of posting there was a spike in monolith sightings around the world. Two, as an homage to _2001_ because this book has caused such an outlandish (deliberately used word) interruption in literature.
I would also like to add that the book seems invested, not only in waste functions, but in the whole digestive system as well.
We see characters who:
- obsess over their mouth/teeth (Revere ADA's wife, Hal who's toothbrush is mysteriously left out when the 1st person narration starts, Gately is an oral narcotics addict [and smoking/drinking involves the mouth for obvious reasons], Joelle panics about her teeth when Gately is hospitalized),
- struggle with bowel problems (Struck who has chrons and his father passed from ulcerative colitis, Hal with the mold still lingering inside his body, the addicts almost always have degenerating guts)
- fart a lot (too many examples to count)
- and narration that fixates on waste functions (trash catapults, Poor Tony Krause in the library, the Irish AA guy who waxed lyrical about his solid stool, the victims of IJ defecating themselves).
There's surely a lot that I missed along with explicit head/body dualities but I think the digestive system is another layer to that overall theme.
also is that a John Berger collection in the fourth top right shelf? if so, what is it? thanks :)
It’s not John Berger. Are you talking about the books with the fellow’s face? That’s a Samuel Beckett collection.
@@LeafbyLeaf Thank you! Looks like John Berger from far away. :)
You’re right!
I don't know what caused me to think this, and i haven't read this book in a number of years, i toyed with the idea that Mario created the film Infinite Jest or perhaps edited a version of his father's. Just based off the footnotes and how there were so many versions of the film i can't but think Mario had a part in the film given how he's the only one i can remember actually filming anything.
Edit: not sure if anything i wrote above is pertinent to the overall story. Also, I had skimmed through the A.A book and couldn't help but notice how similar it read to Infinite Jest in the sense A.A has these confessional backstories of these sad, lost individuals in America.
That's an interesting theory! The only wrench is that Joelle never references Mario at all--only James (well, and Orin, of course; but in relation to the film, only James)--when she talks about the making of the film. Now, that doesn't mean that your theory of Mario *editing* one of the many IJs in post-production is invalidated though. There is a lot of Mario filming things (and a mysterious camera on tripod on the ETA grounds), etc. Another prevailing theory is that Orin was behind the dissemination of the cartridge.
As for the AA Big Book, I need to procure a copy and check that out. Really interesting detail you've put there about the similar form. Almost like DFW was, in a way, writing his own NA/AA Big Book. :)
Excellent insights. Makes me want to reread it. Looking forward to your Moby Dick video.
Awesome! Thanks!
please do a video where you read the whole thing (53 hours)
I think there is a video of someone reading it!
ruclips.net/video/Ee5QymXZcMA/видео.html
@@LeafbyLeaf ya ive listened to that one its not the full book though
Great video! Do you have any thoughts to share on the depiction of avant-garde/underground film in the booK?
Thanks! Hmmmmm, not really anything of substance. I only really noted the satirical nature of the depiction à la the parodying of academic journals/essays/etc. But you've given me something to bear in mind now.
Thank you
My pleasure!
Some truths can only be felt, experienced, and perceived, they cannot be taught directly, or the student (or reader) will raise their defenses. This is the “art of indirect communication.” Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and apparently DFW believed this.
On a slightly different note, I like DFW's antidote to our modern malaise and excessive use of irony:
“...since to be really human (at least as he conceptualizes it) is probably to be unavoidably sentimental and naive and goo-prone and generally pathetic...”
That is, cheesiness and sincerity, I think.😊
'It's hard to notice what you see everyday.' Hal
Yes, I agree. For all of the detractors crying "pretension" at DFW, I think he yearned to be as genuine as possible and make a real, human connection. He was an extremely gifted and intelligent guy, but I think he wrestled with that cutting him off from just being a messy human.
I love that, A Keithing! Goes right along with DFW's insistence that many of the platitudes we write off have depth and truth!
@@LeafbyLeaf I remember Hal saying it near the end in his weird face scene which is one of my favorite parts.
What a treat!
🙏
I've had IJ sitting on my shelf for several years now. Might have to finally take the plunge. Right now I'm getting through Knausgaard's 'My Struggle.' Have you read it? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
I should say, wonderful review. I enjoy your format and depth.
I loved My Struggle. Talked about it in an older video: ruclips.net/video/C9FYEvZJBwM/видео.html. Also published a review of the final volume on Rain Taxi: www.raintaxi.com/my-struggle-book-six/.
I do need to do a full video on that work though, especially as I am keen on rereading it.
Thanks so much!
the mad lad actually did it 😍
Had I not already opted for "Lead by Leaf," "The Mad Lad" would be a great channel name!
What was the book you mentioned before novel explosives? Gaddis two tomes?
Gaddis’s two tomes = The Recognitions and J R.
@@LeafbyLeaf thanks for clarifying
No prob!
Superb review! Infinite Jest remains my favourite novel of all time, and I'm excited to find such an expansive, thoughtful treatment of it on RUclips.
It's sad to me that DFW is now regarded with such distaste by our culture that one must preface any literary exegesis with a lengthy apologia. His behaviour toward Mary Karr was abusive and creepy and obsessive - there can be no doubt - but I think it's uncharitable to assume defects of character in that tortured young addict shaded or defined everything the man would do throughout his life. He was certainly not the martyred saint that some imagined, but neither was he a misogynistic brute who should now be shunned by polite society. The man was troubled and complex, and so was his fiction.
I love your discussion of how to approach a big text like IJ, as a Michelangelo actively chipping at a block of marble to reveal the "beautiful sculpture that is within". I find this approach personally inspiring, and I now want to tackle my (sadly) unfinished copy of The Recognitions with renewed vigour.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on The Pale King (perhaps in a standalone segment), which I see very much as a thematic companion to Infinite Jest, this time tackling the under-examined topic of boredom - or more precisely, the source of the malaise that impels us to flee into addiction, pleasure and infinitely diverting entertainment. If Wallace had completed it, I believe The Pale King would've eclipsed Infinite Jest in ambition and profundity.
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it! I think a future video on The Pale King is inevitable, and, you're right, more meditation upon DFW's thoughts about boredom would be especially useful. Best of luck with Gaddis!
Excelent video.
Thanks! 👊
great video, LFL! i also practice being an active reader & have to remind myself to (quality) read over (quantity) read. please can i ask you to elaborate more on what you said near the beginning about wallace emptying himself into IJ? do you take that to be relinquishing of a burden (maybe something redemptive about IJ) or simply pouring as much of himself into the book for the purposes he set himself as he can (something mimetic perhaps)? or perhaps you meant something very different. thanks for this video, really great listening to your response.
By that statement (kenosis) I meant an emptying out of all that he had amassed in his thoughts as a means of unburdening himself. Just as people are often told to keep journals to sublimate their burgeoning neuroses (anxiety, depression, etc.), it is like DFW put a lifetime of journal entries (the act of purging one's thoughts each day) into one massive book. But he went further, of course, and took the time to impose an order on the chaos (which is what all great art strives to do).