The novel infinite jest is the story of this addictive entertainment, and in particular how it affects a boston halfway house for recovering addicts and a nearby tennis academy, whose students have many. Unquestionably, infinite jest required great ambition and focus to write, and requires a bit of ambition and focus to read as well. Infinite jest by david foster wallace, 9780349121086. Personally, i hated infinite jest and i cant imagine ill ever want to reread any of it. In fact, its take on the very nature of entertainment itself perhaps foresaw the age of vanity and social media, as seen through the prisms of tinder, facebook, twitter and instagram.
One of the best books about addiction and recovery to appear in recent memory sunday times. The aim of the series is to give readers accessible and informative introductions to some of the most popular, most acclaimed and most influential novels of recent years from the remains of the day to white teeth. The novel is a interconnected sequence of events, told out of timeline order, that focuses on addiction in all its forms. It is an exuberant, uniquely american exploration of the passions that make us human and one of those rare books that renew the idea of what a novel can do. Steven moore s criticism is a model of clarity and intelligent advocacy. Infinite jest a gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in america set in an addicts halfway house and a tennis. Infinite jest is both sad, depressed and funny and even 25 years after it was published in 1994 remains relevant to the modern age. Infinite jest by david foster wallace booksamillion. Infinite jest was a megahit in 1996, but whatever popularity it enjoyed among magazine writers, it still occupied a niche. Beyond the ease with which one can lookup footnotes, consider the following. This happened in 2000, only four years after wallaces hyperopus hit the u.
Infinite jest is a 1996 novel by american writer david foster wallace. Infinite jest by david foster wallace, first edition. Infinite jest by wallace, david foster booksamillion. Were featuring millions of their reader ratings on our book pages to help you find your new favourite book. Why david foster wallace should not be worshipped as a. As the novel unfolds, various individuals, organizations, and governments vie to obtain the master copy of infinite jest for their own ends, and the denizens of the tennis school and the halfway house are caught up in increasingly desperate efforts to control the movie as is a cast including burglars, transvestite muggers, scam artists. Italy translates more than any other european nation, and the bulk of these books come from america and england, so perhaps it should not be a surprise that the first translation of infinite jest was into italian. I read pages 110 of infinite jest and talk about great first lines in novels. Wallace wrote to a friend that the fuckers cut by 600 pages from the first version.
A study of david foster wallaces infinite jest greg carlisle. The novel is widely noted for its unconventional narrative structure and its experimental use of endnotes there are 388 endnotes, some with footnotes of their own. This is a list of the novels over 500,000 words published through a mainstream publisher. The book is drumtight and relentlessly smart and, though it does not wear its heart on its sleeve, its deeply felt and incredibly moving. It is an exuberant, uniquely american exploration of the passions that make us human and one of those rare books that renew the. Infinite jest a gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in america set in an addicts halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwedup family to come along in recent fiction, infinite jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives. Infinite jest david foster wallace back bay books, 1,104. The story of an intelligent but zany dysfunctional family is set in a drugandalcohol addicts halfway house and a tennis academy and follows such themes as heartbreak, philosophy, and. Dow jones, a news corp company news corp is a network of leading companies in. Infinite jest by foster wallace, david and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at.
A multilayered postmodern saga of damnation and salvation. A gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in america set in an addicts halfway house and a tennis academy, and. I felt compelled throughout to read it aloud, such was the almost poetic quality of it. Steven asin infinite jest is the perfect book for the kindle paperwhite. Wallaces particular conceit in infinite jest is that the events described are taking place in the indeterminate future, possibly. You can read infinite jest in many ways but thats not to me the most vibrant.
You really should just read it even if its just the first chapter and decide for yourself. We would like to show you a description here but the site wont allow us. Infinite jest wallace, david foster 9780316920049 hpb. Annulation in infinite jest im almost done with infinite jest and ive noticed that david foster wallace brings up annulation a lot. No other commentary on infinite jest recognizes that wallace clearly divided the book into 28. Eggerss introduction observed that infinite jest was 1,067 pages long and there is not one lazy sentence. The complete text includes more than 10 million japanese characters. It has since exceeded a million copies in worldwide sales. It doesnt do well with rushed reading, with readers trying to read so many books or pages week or year.
Find all the books, read about the author, and more. But if you are seeking something other, then this book will not disappoint. I am somewhat tempted to immediately start again, since the end is the beginning and you really cant pick it all up in a single read, but if anyone has a good followup or comedown read suggestion id be glad to hear. Launched in 2000, is a popular ebook retailer hosting over a million unique ebooks. Infinite jest by david foster wallace hachette book group.
This reputation stems from wallaces breakthrough novel, infinite jest 1996, a book 1,100 pages long, a hundred of which are solid footnotes. Infinite jest is a novel written by david foster wallace. In 2006, little brown published a 10th anniversary edition of david foster wallaces infinite jest that featured a foreword by dave eggers. Reader devices a list of the noncomputer reading devices we support.
Infinite jest 20th anniversary edition special edition. American psycho by bret easton ellis booksamillion. Infinite jest explores the idea that all humans are addicts and examines how the chosen drugs particularly entertainment of late 20th century americans eat them alive. Everybody is identical in their secret unspoken belief that way deep down they are different from everyone else. Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, infinite jest bends every rule of fiction without sacrificing for a moment its own entertainment value. Infinite jest by david foster wallace overdrive rakuten. By 2016, worldwide sales of dfws book just exceeded one million.
A definitely challenging book to get through, weve created a video. The more intriguing side belongs to the other characters in this panoramic. Whether its drugs, sex, or fame, the novels primary goal is to examine the need for these addictions and show that it is possible to addicted to addiction itself. It is an exuberant,uniquely american exploration of the passions that make us humanand one of those rare books that. The dead rabbits moniker dates back to a 19thcentury new york street gang, but its about to have a major resurgence in the form of a new literary press, dead rabbits booksitself a spinoff of new yorks dead rabbits reading series, founded in 2014 by writers devin kelly, katie rainey, and katie longofono, who met while attending the mfa program at sarah lawrence college. It has been categorized as an encyclopedic novel and made time magazines list of the 100 best englishlanguage novels published between 1923 and 2005. However, a major ingredient of the infinite jest experience is that you dont. When published in early 1996, infinite jest page count came up to an amazing 1,079 pages, rumoured to have taken 2 and a half to 3 years to complete.
I was wondering if someone could explain it to me, not necessarily in the context of the book, but just as a concept in general. His fame was guaranteed in literary heaven when he helped david foster wallace edit infinite jest. Shrinking the book down to statistics, as so much coverage at the time did, makes it sound academic and bloodless, rather than. Jonathan franzen, new yorker steven moore attained literary stardom when he helped rescue william gaddis the recognitions from obscurity. So were starting off 2017 with 17 of our favorite first lines from books. Infinite jest by wallace, david foster and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Infinite jest, by david foster wallace, is the worst science fiction novel ever written. The truth is it might be the worst novel ever written, or at least published, but given the fact that wallace has stiff competition from the burgeoning spawn of pc elitist writers, not to mention his own pomo kith, such as rick moody, dave eggers, and that. Infinite jest and over 8 million other books are available for amazon kindle. Elegant complexity is the first critical work to provide detailed and thorough commentary on each of the 192 sections of david foster wallaces masterful infinite jest.