Comments on: Dead Sea Diving

By: Ryan Ballard

Ryan Ballard — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:22:07 +0000

It took me 9 months to trudge and battle my way thru the first 300 pages of Infinite Jest (I started in October 08). I read it in short, horrified bursts right before bed. But a couple of weeks ago something clicked, and I read the final 771 pages in 6 days. I was by myself in Belize, diving during the day, and reading IJ in beach bars and restaurants at night (or locked in my hotel room). I read it obsessively, compulsively, and in shocked awe. Probably the best read of my life…

By: Ian

Ian — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:08:49 +0000

“Complaint: It totally sucks that pages 17-27 of Infinite Jest (Erdedy waits for pot) are 100 times better than any short story I will ever write, and yet are only 1/100th of the whole.”

While it may be well-written, I was bored to shreds with those ten pages. I think the subject matter was uninteresting.

By: Christina A.

Christina A. — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:46:43 +0000

I’m a clochard so I had to look up what “chyrons” mean.

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:47:55 +0000

Those typos are in my version too.

By: Samantha B

Samantha B — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:14:08 +0000

Is it only my copy of the book that has typos on page 990 within endnote 24? (I have the newest paperback with the forward by Eggars.) There are superscripts (1s) in all multi-word film titles which lengthen the titles, causing them to run into the word immediately following. Anyone?

By: Griss

Griss — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:28:50 +0000

I was reminded of the endnote 40 complaint from this post when I read endnote 304. Specifically Struck’s difficulty with the Wild Conceits article, becoming frustrated and envisioning slapping the author. Struck is more or less criticizing him at every turn, thinking that the author is “hallucinating details,” and criticizing his word choice, transitions, etc. (despite finding the work fit to copy). Wallace seems to know, and refer to as he does here, of the frustrations readers will have at times with this text. I don’t think he would have been surprised to read such criticism, and I think when he said “in other words” it was because he playing with the fact that the endnote was even more convoluted than the text it was explaining. For me it’s not pretentious, but rather another way to bring the reader in on the theme of the difficulties of communication.

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:03:00 +0000

Yeah I liked FN 40. I was so looking forward to getting those allegiances sorted out and DFW (or whoever) just pulled the rug out with a “Silly reader, easy books are for kids!” Props.

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:01:13 +0000

Yeah I’m treating them as the true chapter headers, and the sections between any two do seem to hang together (or flit back and forth between perhaps juxtaposing scenes), regardless of whether the year is the same or changes within. I’m only on p.200, so that might change as I go on, but it’s something I’m looking out for (while I miss 20 other things I’m sure).

Also re above: gibbous moons, sure. Or tennis balls? (But I’m reminded of the Gravity’s Rainbow manuscript, with divisions that one or more scholars pointed out as probably film reel sprockets, when they ended up being random shapes chosen by the publishers, not by Pynchon at all. I see this is mentioned above as well.)

By: boynamedsioux

boynamedsioux — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:38:40 +0000

The achievement unlocked graphic made my day. Brilliant.

By: Rich C

Rich C — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:01:44 +0000

Yes, I have noticed that. I’ve been catching up on reading interviews. That said, his work supports the classification in many ways, but as I noted, the term IS problematic. It has so many definitions and none of the regulars fit comfortably under all of the definitions.

He certainly explores ethics regularly in the narrative, but I still never get the sense that he is coming down on one side. It is more like “look at the way people act. Is this right or wrong. You figure it out.”