Milestone Reached: 590 (60%)
Chapters Read:
Page 528 – PRE-DAWN AND DAWN, 1 MAY Y.D.A.U. / OUTCROPPING NORTHWEST OF TUCSON AZ U.S.A., STILL: The Marathe and Steeply show continues. Steeply argues that America is not the only culture in which people are drawn to things that could “entertain them to death”.
Page 531 – 0450H., 11 NOVEMBER / YEAR OF THE DEPEND ADULT UNDERGARMENT / FRONT OFFICE, ENNET HOUSE D.A.R.H., ENFIELD MA: Don Gately tells Joelle Van Dyne of a bar fight in which some of his friends “messed with a guy’s girl”; he also asks about the purpose of the veil and her membership in the Union of the Hideously and Improbably Deformed (U.H.I.D.).
Page 538: How Randy Lenz became a Steel-Sak-wielding animal killer. (Aside: “Randy Lenz and his Steel Sax” is the name of my new light-jazz quartet.)
Page 548 – EARLY NOVEMBER / YEAR OF THE DEPEND UNDERGARMENT: Rodney Tine, Chief of U.O.U.S. and compulsive pecker checker.
Page 550 – LATE P.M., MONDAY 9 NOVEMBER / YEAR OF THE DEPEND ADULT UNDERGARMENT: Michael Pemulis walks in on John Wayne (N.R.) and Arvil Incandenza in the middle of … something. “‘I probably won’t even waste everybody’s time asking if I’m interrupting” rockets to the top of the “Best Lines in the Book” list.
Page 553 – WEDNESDAY 11 NOVEMBER / YEAR OF THE DEPEND ADULT UNDERGARMENT: Lenz and Bruce Green stroll around town. Lenz regales Green with stories, all while wondering how he can ditch his companion in time to do his nefarious deeds. Eventually he manages to get away, and Green observes the dog-killer in action.
Page 560: Troeltsch, Pemulis and Wayne visit Hal in turn, each for just a few moments.
Page 563 – SELECTED SNIPPETS FROM THE INDIVIDUAL-RESIDENT-INFORMAL-INTERFACE MOMENTS OF D. W. GATELY, LIVE-IN STAFF, ENNET HOUSE DRUG AND ALCOHOL RECOVERY HOUSE, ENFIELD MA, ON AND OFF FROM JUST AFTER THE BROOKLINE YOUNG PEOPLE’S AA MTNG. UP TO ABOUT 2329H., WEDNESDAY 11 NOVEMBER Y.D.A.U: As advertised.
Page 565: Orin gets it on with a Swiss hand-model. Endnote 234 is a long interview between Steeply and Orin, in which much light is shed on Orin’s relationship with his parents and the mold-eating incident.
Page 567: Michael Pemulis explains annulation to a blindfolded Idris Arslanian.
Page 574: Orin sees his first wheelchair-bound “punting-groupie” since Ms. Steeply left.
Characters The characters page has been updated.
Sources consulted during the compilation of this summation: JS’s Infinite Jest synopses, Dr. Keith O’Neil’s Infinite Jest Reader’s Guide, and Steve Russillo’s Chapter Thumbnails.
Comments
10 responses to “Infinite Summary – Week 8”
Agreed on ‘I probably won’t even waste everybody’s time asking if I’m interrupting”
Everything Pemulis says in that sequence is classic.
‘Hoping for a second of your time’
‘Nice looking helmet’
‘I predict this will take about two minutes at the most’
As horrible as the Lenz killing episodes are, the forum thread that has been going on this topic makes me think of it as a band name every time and it just makes me laugh! (Aside: “Randy Lenz and the Steel-Saks” is the name of my new calypso band.)
I need to see if I can find it again, since I stupidly neglected to earmark it, but…
…Did anybody else catch the language that seemed to link Lenz and yrstruly?
See here: http://infinitesummer.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=421&start=10 or here: http://infinitesummer.org/archives/1351
for more discussion on that.
Thanks much for the links.
Yeah, Brian – p562, during the Lenz-Green walk-n-talk. “…due north of where yrstruly and Green strolled through the urban grid.” So yrstruly kinda has to be Lenz – no?
Not at all! See the links I posted above. Emil Minty is yrstruly.
I have a post up on Orin’s encounter with the “Swiss” hand-model called Orin’s Endless Fall, which also discusses the section through p.601 (behind today’s spoiler line of p.611). Infinite Detox also posted on the question Is Orin Paranoid Enough?
“I probably won’t even waste everybody’s time asking if I’m interrupting’ rockets to the top of the ‘Best Lines in the Book’ list.” Precisely.
But the synopsis “Page 567: Michael Pemulis explains annulation to a blindfolded Idris Arslanian” makes me laugh out loud. IJ in outline is almost funnier than IJ in total.
“Compulsive Pecker Checker” should be Randy Lenz and his Steel Sax’s first single.