What is the best way to read Infinite Jest?

What is the best way to read Infinite Jest?

These tips can help.

1. Read It With A Friend. Giphy.
2. Take Notes. Giphy.
3. Or Take Someone Else’s Notes. Giphy.
4. Use Caution When Admitting Non-Jest Reading Material Into Your Life.
5. No, Really: Use Extreme Caution When Admitting Non-Jest Reading Material Into Your Life.
6. Make A Schedule.
7. And Then Let Yourself Disregard That Schedule.

Is Infinite Jest difficult to read?

At more than 1,000 pages – with copious footnotes – Infinite Jest is a famously difficult read. It is the Gen-X Ulysses that even those like me, who consider themselves DFW superfans, are nervous to attempt, many preferring to feed their devotion with his essays and short stories.

What does Onan stand for Infinite Jest?

In the future of Infinite Jest the US, Mexico and Canada have come together as the Organization of North American Nations (ONAN), and William Beutler has created a print of ONAN’s seal.

How do you prepare for Infinite Jest?

With Infinite Jest, at 1079 pages long, give it at least 107 pages before ditching it. Annotate the book or take notes: Underline words you want to look up later (or, if you are reading the e-book, highlight words not in the Kindle or iOS dictionary), star your favorite sentences, make lists of characters, etc.

What should I read before Infinite Jest?

The Reading List for Infinite Jest

• Lost in the Funhouse by John Barth (a short story)
• “The Balloon” by Donald Barthelme (a short story)
• The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker (a very short novella)
• “Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way” by David Foster Wallace (a short story/novella)

What are the most difficult books to read?

Notoriously Long & Difficult Books

• Moby-Dick, Or, The Whale. by Melville, Herman.
• Les Misérables. by Hugo, Victor.
• Ulysses. by Joyce, James.
• Finnegans Wake. by Joyce, James.
• Infinite Jest. A Novel.
• Mark Z. Danielwski’s House of Leaves.
• War And Peace (Vintage Classics) by Tolstoy, Leo.
• The Brothers Karamazov. by Dostoyevsky, Fyodor.

Why do people not like Infinite Jest?

It’s typically regarded as difficult reading, due partly to its narrative structure, but mostly because of its length. Infinite Jest is 1,079 pages long, making it not ideal for subway reading but extremely effective as an emergency doorstop.

Is Infinite Jest dystopia?

While many science fiction novels contain portrayals of corporate dystopias, Infinite Jest stands out for the fact that the corporate dystopia it depicts is so close to the reality readers actually inhabit.

Does Infinite Jest have a plot?

The foreground of Infinite Jest features three basic plot systems. Again, little happens in the way of conventional plot.

Is Infinite Jest sad?

There are parts of Infinite Jest that feel like the most savage futuristic satire ever made, a Super Sad True Love Story before Super Sad True Love Story. Other parts feel as gritty and sad and true as the best Stephen King.

What year is Infinite Jest set in?

Most of the action in the novel takes place in the Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, or Y.D.A.U., which is probably AD 2009, taking the Year of the Yushityu… (the lengthily titled 6th Subsidized Year) as 2007. Critic Stephen Burn, in his book on Infinite Jest, argues convincingly that Y.D.A.U.

What is considered the greatest novel of all time?

Moby Dick by Herman Melville. First published in 1851, Melville’s masterpiece is, in Elizabeth Hardwick’s words, “the greatest novel in American literature.”

What’s the summary of the book Infinite Jest?

A novel that almost defies summary, Infinite Jest begins with a scene at the latest chronological point in the purview of the novel: in the “Year of Glad,” the final year of nine-year-long Subsidized Time calendar in O.N.A.N., a nation made up of parts of the former United States and Canada.

Where does Orin wake up in Infinite Jest?

Orin wakes up in AZ, wishes last night’s “Subject” would leave. Autumn: Don Gately’s criminal career comes to an end after accidentally murdering a Canadian VIP during a robbery. This VIP has ties to various anti-O.N.A.N. groups 1 st (/2 nd?) person: description of 12 yr old’s nightmare at E. T. A.

Who was David Foster Wallace in Infinite Jest?

David Foster Wallace was the child of two professors who grew up in Illinois. Like several of the characters in Infinite Jest, he was a competitive junior tennis player.

Who are the Little Buddies in Infinite Jest?

Talk of love… 11/3: Hal with his “little buddies” (Kent Blott, Idris Arslanian, Ingersol). He convinces them that their resentment of Schtitt is engineered by Schtitt and his staff. Switches to John (NR) Wayne, Troelsch, Struck, and Stice, each with his group of younger students.