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. I guess this is a first for me and ill get straight to the point. David foster wallaces infinite jest is an audiobook. I received an email earlier today from a reader who had excitedly received their unabridged audio book of. Wallace wrote to a friend that the fuckers cut by 600 pages from the first version. Infinite jest as infinite jest a supposedly fun blog. 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. May 15, 2017 well be covering on tips and tricks on how you can read this book on our next video, so stay tuned, but for this video, well present to you 40 book cover design variations of infinite jest, for. Wallace has even remarked to his friend, james franzen, that not only he knows exactly what the book is about or who the protagonist is supposed to be. The audiobook for infinite jest was released in 2012. Oct 09, 2015 this is only partly true when considering infinite jest, which is generally reputed to be the hardest of his works because it is his longest, at 1,079 pages. Infinite jest audiobook by david foster wallace, read by. The lengthy and complex work takes place in a semiparodic future version of north america, and touches on substance addiction recovery programs, depression, child abuse, family relationships, advertising, popular entertainment, film theory, quebec separatism, and tennis, among other topics.
Infinite jest, a friend of wallaces commented to me when i was researching every love story is a ghost story, the biography of wallace that i wrote, reads like a valentine to a. Infinite summer blog archive how to read infinite jest. And the books interlace world of ondemand viewing predated netflix, our allentombing internet, our endless flow of content, and the ready. The following conversation is drawn from an interview i did with david foster wallace in september 2006 as part of a series of articles and radio pieces about important foreign writers, artists, and movie directors who were not well known in russia at the time. Rather, each reading is a meal the whole tome is practically a steady diet. Feb 26, 2016 12 if you think infinite jest at 1,100odd pages is a long book, be advised that it started longer. I cant recommend the purchase of the what at first appears to be the amazing ive heard good things about the audio. In a manner both reminiscent and imitative of thomas pynchons gravitys rainbow 1973, wallace traces the sometimes connected fortunes of two dozen or so addicted and obsessed souls variously involved with. These are the endnotes to david foster wallaces infinite jest, a gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in america. Infinite jest works well in audiobook form and this is in no small part helped by sean pratts fantastic reading complete with impressive changes in accent, tone and characterisation. One of the essays is about tennis and i nearly fell asleep reading it. Favourite joke in infinite jest im reading infinite jest for the first time and ive come across a joke thats made me laugh out loud for about 5 minutes. Why i cannot recommend the infinite jest audio book. For all the possible directions a last post about infinite jest could take, ive decided to look ahead to what comes next.
The novel is a interconnected sequence of events, told out of timeline order, that focuses on addiction in all its forms. Just over twenty years ago, david foster wallace published his bestknown and most frustrating novel, infinite jest. Infinite jest by david foster wallace turns 20 today, and im still confused by it all these years later. When you buy the audio edition of ij, you get the novel sans footnotes. David foster wallace giving a reading at all saints church, san francisco, 2006. A gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness.
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. Book cover design variations infinite jest by david foster. Audiobooks are a great alternative for those of us who spend the workday with our eyes glued to a computer screen. Reading david foster wallaces latest novel, infinite jest, i couldnt help thinking at times about 7yearold seymour glasss booklength letter home from camp, published in the new. For reference while working on the project drew used the ij scene by scene guide, and stephen burns david foster wallaces infinite jest. Apr 12, 2012 why i cannot recommend the infinite jest audio book infinite jest i guess this is a first for me and ill get straight to the point. Whether you are a word gourmet or gourmand, infinite. A brick of a tome of a journey of a boy and his harried growth in spurts of tennisfueled tragedy. Infinite jest is a 1996 novel by david foster wallace. Infinite jest by david foster wallace overdrive rakuten. Book cover design variations infinite jest by david. Brickjest infinite jest in legos it is unlikely to be bettered. David foster wallace books david foster wallace reader.
I think what you say about infinite summer is quite interesting. David foster wallaces infinite jest is an audiobook, minus endnotes audio by andres jauregui on march 27, hachette audio released david foster wallaces magnum opus infinite jest most of it, at least as a 56hourlong audiobook. It and the stand by stephen king are just so dang enjoyable on audiobook. This is long listen but the chapters are well paced, and as mentioned, sean pratt reads with a deep sensitivity and knowledge of the text and the author. I felt compelled throughout to read it aloud, such was the almost poetic quality of it. 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. Stream tracks and playlists from infinite jest on your desktop or mobile device. If you have not read infinite jest there are major spoilers to be found. The following was drafted by matt bucher maintainer of the wallacel listserv and author of this post, and augmented by input from nick maniatis administrator of the howling fantods, a site devoted to dfw, and kathleen fitzpatrick professor at pomona college, who teaches a course entitled david foster wallace theres no wrong way to read infinite jest. I am reminded of the street theft of the jarvik arti. Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, infinite jest bends every rule of fiction without sacrificing for a moment its own entertainment value. Thinking about giving it a shot but dont want to waste the money if its just as hard to follow as read.
Later, the audiobook publishing company hired the narrator back to just read the footnotes, which you need to buy as a separate title. Beyond the ease with which one can lookup footnotes, consider the following. But if you are seeking something other, then this book will not disappoint. His nonfiction includes this is water, consider the lobster, everything and more, a supposedly fun thing ill never do again, and with mark. Jan 27, 2017 infinite jest is often praised for its prescience. Infinite jest by david foster wallace librarything.
Infinite winter read infinite jest with a few hundred of. Audiobook hd audio david foster wallace infinite jest 17. An ambitious and frequently brilliant fictional exploration of the pursuit of pleasure and its ramifying consequences, by the antic author of girl with curious hair 1989, etc. Infinite jest is a novel written by david foster wallace. Its a big very big, bold, complex book that divided critics yet nevertheless landed with a thud on that list of novels everyone intends to read someday. Im still trying to make sense of infinite jest io9. 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. Individuals, organizations and governments vie to obtain the master copy, and recovering addicts get caught up in increasingly desperate attempts to control it.
Find all the books, read about the author, and more. There are those days, after all, that our poor eyes are simply too strained to take in that bedside copy of infinite jest youve been meaning to finish. So im almost always constantly listening to books and im trying to find more and more time to do that and what ive been doing the past couple of years is ill put on some mindless game in the background where i dont have to pay attention to any story or anything like that and just immerse myself in the book. Why david foster wallace should not be worshipped as a.
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. Well be covering on tips and tricks on how you can read this book on our next video, so stay tuned, but for this video, well present to you 40 book cover design variations of infinite jest, for. Dfws masterpiece otherwise known as the pinnacle of postmodern literary snobbery. This is only partly true when considering infinite jest, which is generally reputed to be the hardest of his works because it is his longest, at 1,079 pages.
There are jokes that take many pages to set up and the pay offs are laugh out loud hilarious. Steven asin infinite jest is the perfect book for the kindle paperwhite. The last few months with you guys have been totally awesome, and ive loved the adventure of helping guide yall through the subterranean underbelly of the enfield tennis academy and out to the freezing sand of gatelys beach. I cant recommend the purchase of the what at first appears to be the amazing ive heard good things about the audio, excellent vocal performance audio book of infinite jest. 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 the kind of book that, when it is mentioned, creates a hushed silence of mingled awe and fear in the room. Infinite jest is perhaps the great postmodern american novel for many reasons. And the bouncing backandforth is a feature, not a bug. Infinite jest has been listed as one of the top 100 all time greatest novels of 19232006. The publication of infinite jest on feb 1, 1996 turned david foster. Infinite jest infinite jest audiobook, by david foster wallace. Listen to infinite jest by david foster wallace at. When people do tackle it, they often give up within the first 200 pages or soone of the most difficult parts of. Why i cannot recommend the infinite jest audio book infinite jest. Mar 03, 1996 reading david foster wallaces latest novel, infinite jest, i couldnt help thinking at times about 7yearold seymour glasss booklength letter home from camp, published in the new.
Unquestionably, infinite jest required great ambition and focus to write, and requires a bit of ambition and focus to read as well. At the top of a hill is the enfield tennis academy, and at the base of the hill is the ennet house. At the macro level, infinite jest consists of numerous anticonfluential wallaces word episodes set a dozen years or so in the future as was the broom, at a time when numerical designations for years have been sold to corporate sponsors. I think infinite jest was a way for him to wring out all the bits of postmodernism until the concept and all the tricks were exhausted. What its like to record the audiobook version of infinite jest 2015 infinite jest infinite jest articl. Though published in 1996, david foster wallaces infinite jest appears to be the. The guardian this might be the best thing you see on the internet all day. It is an exuberant, uniquely american exploration of the passions that make us human and one of those rare books that renew the. 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. How to read infinite jest chronologically infinite jest.
A utilities page for david foster wallaces novel infinite jest. It has been categorized as an encyclopedic novel and made time magazines list of the 100 best englishlanguage novels published between 1923 and 2005. The novel is widely noted for its unconventional narrative structure and its experimental use of endnotes there are a total of 388 endnotes, some with footnotes of their own. Jun, 2011 david foster wallace giving a reading at all saints church, san francisco, 2006. With regard to the basic 14 plot line, the setting for the majority of the action is enfield, a fictional suburbia town outside of boston. They are not boring bibliographic details, but rather an integral part of the text. How do you imagine the physical appearance of cartridges in infinite. The way the footnotes were handled in infinite jest was that they werent. Hang your posters in dorms, bedrooms, offices, or anywhere blank walls arent welcome. Page 407 of the 20th anniversary edition, its in the news headlines that are apart of marios puppet film for interdependence day at the tennis academy.
David foster wallace wrote the novels infinite jest, the broom of the system, and the pale king, and the story collections oblivion, brief interviews with hideous men, and girl with curious hair. Infinite jest are a female fronted hardalternative rock band based in christchurch uk christchurch. Infinite jest by david foster wallace, first edition. Part of what makes this publication hard are generous undefined phrases deliberately. At the top of a hill is the enfield tennis academy, and at the base of the hill is the ennet hou. Flavorwire listen to cocreator sebastian being interviewed about his lego project on display at the ohio history center. Wallace also seems to see skype coming long before it was. Ive seldom been more engrossed in a novel, and more willing to put in the time of.
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. Initially the audiobook did not include the endnotes except as a text file attachment. Infinite jest is a 1996 novel by american writer david foster wallace. The 5 impressive ways david foster wallaces infinite jest predicted. Heres how i finally read infinite jest and how you can, too. Feb 01, 1996 infinite jest is a movie so entertaining and addictive, anyone who watches it loses all desire to do anything else.