Infinite Jest week three-Year of the obnoxiously long passages
Though I appreciate the focus that has been created around Hal’s story, I was beginning to enjoy the jumping around, confusing nature of each chapter and the impossible time progression. It was as if each story was its own fascinating tale, but had a small meaning in the greater picture of the Infinite Jest world. I liked the idea that we were to draw meaning from the stories on their own, but it’s coming to a point where the story is being told for us, as it is in most novels from the start, though I guess that is to be expected.
The description of the Recovery House (193) gives us a picture of a concrete subject that we can distinctly imagine. It is one of few cases where we are given a scene and allowed to picture it as described, unlike the otherwise obscure stories and concepts that are presented. Interactions between characters, drugs, tennis, etc., are the only ideas we are given to feed off of for the most part. As we talked about on the first day of class, comparing Infinite Jest to a movie in book form, this is one time where we are given concrete details to define our setting, from what seems to be a more or less unbiased or opinion. We know for sure, or as sure as we can be, of the layout of the building, etc, and can build off of this firm concept with other information we have about the place, which is uncommon as far as we have read.
One of my favorite things about reading so far is the ridiculous amount of allusions with which D.F.Wallace fills the incredibly large pages of Infinite Jest. For example, pages 232-233 were so intense I had to stop and reread them (not that that is uncommon for many other pages and chapters so far) in an attempt to make sense of all the concepts he introduces, many of which I’m sure I missed anyway. Wallace throws together French and Japanese film and all sorts of movies and philosophy and music and chemistry with such convex (!) ideas in two(ish) pages, and does this on a number of occasions, all of which playing into the same dialogue/narrative that happens to be fitting to the character he is talking about at the time.
To be honest, though I appreciate Wallace’s writing so far, I’m really looking forward to a tangible conclusion or logic made to all this brilliant nonsense.
The description of the Recovery House (193) gives us a picture of a concrete subject that we can distinctly imagine. It is one of few cases where we are given a scene and allowed to picture it as described, unlike the otherwise obscure stories and concepts that are presented. Interactions between characters, drugs, tennis, etc., are the only ideas we are given to feed off of for the most part. As we talked about on the first day of class, comparing Infinite Jest to a movie in book form, this is one time where we are given concrete details to define our setting, from what seems to be a more or less unbiased or opinion. We know for sure, or as sure as we can be, of the layout of the building, etc, and can build off of this firm concept with other information we have about the place, which is uncommon as far as we have read.
One of my favorite things about reading so far is the ridiculous amount of allusions with which D.F.Wallace fills the incredibly large pages of Infinite Jest. For example, pages 232-233 were so intense I had to stop and reread them (not that that is uncommon for many other pages and chapters so far) in an attempt to make sense of all the concepts he introduces, many of which I’m sure I missed anyway. Wallace throws together French and Japanese film and all sorts of movies and philosophy and music and chemistry with such convex (!) ideas in two(ish) pages, and does this on a number of occasions, all of which playing into the same dialogue/narrative that happens to be fitting to the character he is talking about at the time.
To be honest, though I appreciate Wallace’s writing so far, I’m really looking forward to a tangible conclusion or logic made to all this brilliant nonsense.
posted by Paris at 10:23 PM
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