Category: Elsewhere Jest

As Infinite Summer draws to a close, many have penned their “final thoughts” post:

• Sarah’s Books: “But and so and but so I finished IJ.”
• I Just Read About That: “So, obviously, the first reaction is WHAT?!“
• Infinite Zombies: “I’ve probably tended to race down the hill of those last 200 pages and just lost the end amid the swirling thoughts of how ambitious and crazy and good the whole book is, and I’ve never given the actual end — the stuff about Gately specifically — very much thought.” (Daryl Houston).
• Of Books and Bikes: “Wow, people. Infinite Jest is a great book, and it’s going on my list of favorite novels ever.”
• Magnificent Octopus: “At some point, about a week ago, I was ready to say this is an awesome book, this Infinite Jest, and while I spent much of the first couple hundred pages admiring it, I was also somewhat confused and not really relating to it … So but, right, I’m done now, and yup, awesome book.”
• Shelf Life: “This brings me to my primary problem with Infinite Jest. The excess. Wallace’s writing is amazing. It’s funny and insightful and rich with amusing references and even intentional, revealing mistakes. I loved his narrative voice, but it’s just too much. Too much story, too many characters, too many walls of text.”
• A Supposedly Fun Blog: “AAAAAARRRRRGGGHHHH. I was expecting that. But not that.” (Erza Klein) and “I enjoyed it to the end, although I started to resent it about three weeks ago, not because the quality flagged (it didn’t) but because my stack of unread books began to reach truly frightening heights.” (Kevin Carey)
• Catching Days: “I am shocked at how much I loved Infinite Jest.”
• Aaron Swartz: “The whole book is laced through with mocking cracks at this disconnected style, like a preemptive apology. And the ending really doesn’t help matters. But in the middle it is truly grand, some of the best fiction ever.”
• Thinking Without a Box: “A brilliant, earnest, and an enriching piece of fiction. Every time I read pages in the book, I was always amazed by the sheer genius of David Foster Wallace. He was truly a great one.”
• Verbatim: “I did not want it to end, because now I will never again get to read about Don Gately, Joelle Van Dyne, Hal Incandenza, and all the rest—until I reread, that is.”
• Jazz … In Strange Places: “when i realized i had only 50 pages left i knew i was screwed in the resolution department.”
• A Hyperanaphylaxis Universal Mean: “I read Jest in about 10-25 page increments over the past three months; sometimes a little faster, sometimes a little slower, but always just like a mule. Plodding along through the hills and the dark down there caverns of this tumultuous, twisting book.”
• Ongoing: “I’m glad I read it. I would never dream of recommending it to anyone.”
• Prozac: “Each character, though all seemingly reflective of the author, was so painfully individual and human that I felt I knew them better than I know my own friends and family.”
• Tape Noise Diary: “Wallace’s inside joke and wink is that what’s entertaining about the story it’s is non-entertainment and unsatisfying story arc. It’s like a very long thesis about addiction and entertainment that uses plot and characters as props.”

And in case you missed it, much of our blogroll finished the book early (infinitedetox, Gerry Canavan, members of Infinite Zombies, and so forth). We listed their final reactions in the previous Roundup post.

Also in the last fortnight, a lot of rumination about Infinite Summer and the future of reading. Matthew Battles, of the Hermenautic Circle Blog, writes:

When I think of Infinite Summer, I remember that the liberal arts are at their heart not a profession or a civic medicine but a disposition.

The institutions of the life of the mind are in a bad way—and they always have been! I wouldn’t have given you two cents for the institutions at any point in the history of civilization. But the life of the mind isn’t really about institutions, is it?

I know I’m simplifying things; it could be argued that without institutional exposure to the liberal arts, Infinite Summer’s far-flung participants would never have undertaken conversation.

Kathleen Fitzpatrick, associate professor of media studies at Pomona College (and I.S. guest) discussed the “death of literature with Humanities Magazine. The Missouri Review ponders Book Clubs in the World of Tomorrow!.

If you have recently written something about Infinite Jest, pelase let us know in the comments.

This week many readers saw the light at the end of the summer and sprinted toward it, finishing the novel and writing about the end. If you are still behind the spoiler line, you should avoid:

• Gerry Canavan, On Endings.
• Kevin Carey of A Supposedly Fun Blog, So I Lied.
• Daryl Houston of Infinite Zombies, I Know a Good Book When I Want to Write One.
• Lefttothereader, Infinite Summer …?.
• Pages Turned, Couldn’t Keep to the Schedule.
• Girl Detective, 100%.
• Uncertain Principles, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest.
• Infinite Detox, Spoiler Line: ∞

Earlier, Infinite Detox was outraged at E.T.A. (and the novel’s) treatment of Michael Pemulis. Infinite Tasks concurred.

Paul Debraski is sticking the schedule; his latest posts looks at Wallace’s prescience regarding technology. Sarah observes that the book has become abruptly infantile.

Man, everyone is doing this Infinite Summer thing. Here is a still from this week’s episode of Weeds.

“I’ll do that delivery for mom after I finish my chapter.
I’m sure this Erdedy guy won’t mind waiting ten minutes.”

(Thanks to Ed for sending us the screenshot.)

Matt of Wood-Tang is on page 700 of the novel. Jazz is also ahead. Mo Pie finished, as have a whole host of people on Twitter.

Recent posts from the folks on our blogroll:

• Repat Blues: Both to die and to live in Paris
• Naptime Writing: IJ quote of the day 45
• Gerry Canavan: A Brief Comment on the Narcissism of Grad Students and My Own Arrested Adolescence
• I Just Read About That: Infinite Jest Week 9
• Infinite Zombies: Underground
• Infinite Detox: Tramadol Tales, Brought to You by AOL
• A Supposedly Fun Blog: Expectation and Ecstasy
• Infinite Tasks: Scorn of Death
• Love, Your Copyeditor: Got Semicolon?
• Sarah’s Books: Infinite Summer Week 9
• That Sounds Cool: Infinite Jestation: A Blogthrough (p. 562-619)

Earlier this week, the NPR program To the Best of Our Knowledge devoted an entire episode to David Foster Wallace. In it they speak with (among many others) Michael Pietsch, Rolling Stone contributing editor David Lipsky, and David’s sister Amy Wallace-Haven.

And Dennis Cooper discovered something magical about the “statistically improbable phrases” that Amazon.com provides for its books. “What Amazon doesn’t tell you is that, in the case of fiction, their SIP feature does not merely hint at important plot elements but MAGICALLY DISTILLS THE ESSENCE OF THE WORK.” He then lists 69 books in SIP form. At #1:

medical attaché, annular fusion, entertainment cartridge, improbably deformed, howling fantods, feral hamsters, dawn drills, tough nun, professional conversationalist, new bong, ceiling bulged, metro boston, tennis academy, red leather coat, soupe aux pois, red beanie, addicted man, magnetic video, littler kids, little rotter, technical interview, police lock, oral narcotics, sober time, veiled girl

Every Happy Days needs a Laverne and Shirley, and maybe even a Joanie Loves Chachi for good measure. So too is Infinite Summer spawning spin-offs.

Next week Infinite Jest will finally be published in German. At that time, the publisher is planning an Infinite Summer like read-along, and has a bunch of writers all lined up to participate. The official site 9all in German, natch) is http://www.unendlicherspass.de/.

For those who found I.J. a little too daunting (or too readable, and already finished), B. Mernit has launched Infinite Water, which encourages folks to read and discuss David Foster Wallace’s Kenyon Commencement Address.

Speaking of “This is Water”, the Telegraph has a long article on Infinite Jest, Infinite Summer, and David Foster Wallace. In it, Michael Pietsch speaks a bit about Wallace’s final and incomplete novel, The Pale King, to be published posthumously. The commencement is “very much a distillation” of the novel’s theme, says Pietsch, as well as “attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day.”

And at long last we have a blogroll. Chronic Infinite Jest bloggers are now listed here on the mothership, for your pursuing pleasure.

Oh, and a big congratulations to Chaz Formichella, who became the 1000th member of the Infinite Summer. We sent him a copy of David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest: A Reader’s Guide to commemorate his achievement. Nice work!

Despite the Avery induced exodus, many folks tenaciously cling to the Infinite Jest bandwagon. The most indefatigable chronicles are:

Crystal Bae wrote a nice little entry about Infinite Summer on her blog, Aesthetics of Everywhere. Mike Miley discussed Infinite Summer on The Huffington Post. There was also an article in The Daily Texan.

Reid Carlberg “Finished That Damn Book“. R.J. Adler of A Litany of Nonsense hit page 500 in the novel and asked “Halfway to What?”

And Jeremy Stober can’t figure out why he likes Infinite Jest:

In the meat and heft, the narrative always seems just easy enough to read that you don’t even realize how much of the novel’s world you are absorbing, as if it sort of slips in through osmosis and entrenches itself in your metabolic pathways as you lug the physical weight of the book around.

Lastly, the students of ENG 590 at Albany’s College are reading Infinite Jest in three weeks (!!), and keeping blogs all the while. You can read about the class here, and find the course website (including links to the student blogs) at ijstrose.wordpress.com.

if you have written about Infinite Jest recently, please let us know in the forums or the comments.

Gerry Canavan continues to crank out stellar essays on the novel. Ditto for Paul Debraski, The Feminist Texican, and Aaron Riccio.

In the Crossover Event of 2009, Andrew of Blographia Literaria posts on Scott’s Conversational Reading, about DFW’s habitual use of parenthetical names in many of his (Wallace’s) more convoluted sentences. Ray of “Love, Your Copyeditor”, meanwhile, demands to know “who signed off on all the hyphens“. And Mo Pie need someone to explain the likes.

Ellen of “Wormbook” provides a two part progress report on her reading thus far: How, Why.

The Infinite Summer Flickr pool now has over 70 photos and 100 members.

Chris of “UInterview” wonders if all the attention Infinite Summer has been receiving lately is just a fad–and if that is necessarily a bad thing. R.J. of “A Litany of Nonsense” isn’t giving up on the novel, but has just about had it with Infinite Summer. And now, in week five, we are seeing our first concession speeches, such as this one from “Literata”.

Jim Donaldson sent us email:

Here is something you may wish to post in the weekly round up. Or maybe not.

Neighborhoodies, of Brooklyn NY, makes an Enfield Tennis Academy t-shirt and sweatshirt. The t shirts are all custom made so you can get any combination of colors you want, though it seems to me purists would want it in regulation red and gray.

They can be found here and here.

When I asked them to make a couple of proofreading corrections in their copy and mentioned Infinite Summer, they responded by saying that we can get $5 off any purchase if we put the code considerthemobster (yes, “mobster”) in the coupon field.

I have no connection with the company at all, other than being a prior satisfied customer–and sufficiently SNOOTY to copy edit their web page and tell them about it.

Jim sent a similar message to the wallace-l listserv, which spawned a thread on Infinite Jest related merchandise. Some other items that were mentioned:

• “I am in here” bumperstickers.
• Assorted Infinite Jest paraphernalia, including some pretty sweet “I am in here” t-shirts.
• wallace-l “Bottle Jerseys”

Like Jim, we have no connection to the folks selling this stuff. But, in the bottom of this topic the the forums, someone proposes Infinite Summer t-shirts. If you have an idea for a design, or the graphical chops to create a print-ready image, let us know in this topic devoted to the subject.

You can also use the forums to let us know if you have recently written about Infinite Jest, or mention it in the the comments of this post.

Infinite Summer was mentioned in Newsweek, both the online and print edition. Related: hello one zillion new visitors. More info about the event can be found here, and the forums are over yonder. And in case you are wondering: a dedicated reader could pick up Infinite Jest today and still finish by September 21st if they chose to do so, no sweat. (Well, maybe a little sweat. But Lyle can take care of that for you.)

Infinite Summer also graced the pages of The New York Times Book Blog, Phawker, and The EphBlog.

Gayla of Beautiful Screaming Lady views the many exhortations on this site to “trust the author” with skepticism:

I have to admit–and this makes me feel like Ebenezer Scrooge on a deadline at a Christmas parade–I don’t find … these arguments particularly compelling. I agree that the first ten pages are great. There is a lot of great writing in this book. The problem is that there’s also a lot of–not bad writing, but problematic writing, and there are a lot of paragraphs where I feel that Wallace’s point is not so much to communicate with me as to show me what a virtuoso he is…

And that’s why I don’t trust David Foster Wallace. I’m not going to stop reading the book, because its truly fabulous moments are worth slogging through Wardine and yrstruly. But I don’t believe he was in control of his talent.

In an interview with The Aspen Times, the Old 97’s frontman Rhett Miller says he’s about to jump in the fray. At this point we’re only a drummer shy of a house band.

William.K.H and Jeffrey Paris argue that Infinite Jest is not “science-fiction”. Jim Brown and Robert Sharp wonder if the novel qualifies as a “new media object”

On Infinite Detox, a blogger struggles to overcome a dependency on tramadol while reading Infinite Jest. He writes: “Six or so months ago I found the book’s treatment of addiction and recovery compelling enough to inspire me to quit cold turkey for several weeks over the Christmas holidays … With Wallace’s book, again, acting as something of a guide and mentor, I hope also to give my drug habit the boot.”

Here are some other people who were talking about Infinite Summer this week:

• Laura of The Book Life.
• Patti of White Pebble.
• Nicola of Nicola’s Blog.
• Mark of The Kaedrin Weblog.
• Geoffrey of Geoffrey Werner Challen.
• Gina of So Silky, So Round.
• Ex Kathedra of The Arbiters of Taste.
• Sarah and Joe of Drunken Bee.
• Ruby of WordWacky.
• Kim of Sophisticated Dorkiness.

If you have recently written about Infinite Jest, please let us know in the comments or the forums.

Jacket Copy, the LA Times literary organ, interviewed Matthew Baldwin. The Story Behind Infinite Summer. The Valve, meanwhile, finds the project “a little morbid“.

Unbeknownst to us, Infinite Summer was mentioned on television at some point.

Mark Flannigan, the Contemporary Literature Guide of About.com, is on-board.

Says Whitney of Feet on Polished Floor: “Reading David Foster Wallace is like punching yourself repeatedly in the face. But in a good way.”

Danielle started late but is determined to finish by August 12th. Cynthia of Catching Days was also tardy, but has already caught up.

Gerry Canavan, on the narrative shift that begins on page 140

The multiple perspectives characteristic of Infinite Jest have now, suddenly, infected the text itself; the chapter headings that had previously presented themselves as objective and reliable third-person-omniscient narration are now uncovered as subjective and perspectival, opinionated, excitable, and frankly a little confused.

Michael posted an “Infinite Summer playlist” at Trials & Tribulations. He also pointed out another playlist made by Señor Cisco.

Many bloggers are providing regular updates of their reading. Among them:

• Paul of I Just Read About That … , who provides character profiles, synopsies of plot developments, and more.
• The Feminist Texan.
• Charles & Leah of Ashcan Rantings.
• Ward at Brain Health Hacks.
• Sarah of Sarah’s Books
• Chris of Pandemonium of the Sun.
• Jennifer of Piano & Scene.
• Erica is using her MySpace page to track her progress through the novel.

If you have recently written about Infinite Jest, please let us know in the comments or the forums.

The National Post’s Afterword interviewed Matthew Baldwin about the genesis of Infinite Summer.

At A Supposedly Fun Blog, several writers (including Erza Klein of the Washington Post) have assembled to blog their reading of Infinite Jest. They join Infinite Zombies, which has been doing so for the last two weeks.

Sonja describes her reading methodology. William boasts that his weblog Human Complex is “Now Infinitely Summerier”. Christine has been posting an “IJ Quote of the Day” on Naptime Writing. Ray says he’ll be writing about Infinite Jest every Wednesday at Love, Your Copyeditor.

Political blogger Atrios reveals that the title of his blog is taken from the novel.

And speaking of political bloggers, Matthew Yglesias is reading Infinite Jest on the Kindle:

I think I stumbled upon an inadvertent flaw in the Kindle. Namely, that when you read really long books—particularly as part of a quasi-group enterprise—you want to either brag about how many pages you’ve read or else whine about how many pages you’ve fallen behind. But the Kindle doesn’t have pages! Just, um, locations.

So I read 1,100 locations worth of the book. But nobody knows what that means. Normal people won’t even know if that’s a lot or a little.

In general, the Kindle strikes me as somewhat hobbled by an overly generous view of why people buy books. Not only is there this problematic lack of bragging, but with the kindle edition of the book I can’t have a handsome volume laying around the house as if to say to visitors, “why, yes, I may be a professional political pundit but I’m also a man of culture.” And I’ll have nothing on my shelf. Amazon should at least send you a sticker when you buy a book on Kindle so you can maintain some kind of display wall of all the impressive books you’ve read.

According to this page, Skylight Books in LA will give you a 15% book club discount if you mention “Infinite Summer” when buying IJ. They also say their facilities are available for meet-ups.

Here are some other people who were talking about Infinite Summer this week:

• Melissa of Broken Nerves.
• Croz of Out of the cradle endlessly rocking.
• Brandon of Bookstorm.
• Lonita of All the Lonita that’s unfit to print.
• Paul of I Just Read About That …
• Chad of Uncertain Principles.
• Peter of of Brain Hammer.
• Rebecca of Of Books and Bicycles.
• Martin of Emdashes.
• Kirsten of Now or Never.

If you have recently written about Infinite Jest, please let us know in the comments or the forums.

Michael made some Infinite Summer bookmarks with the schedule printed right on them. We were totally going to do the same thing, but whatever we would have cooked up would have looked pretty lame compared to those.

In addition to creating a Google Calendar and iCal calendar for the I.S. schedule, James also says he’ll be blogging his reading of the novel at his website.

Ralph created a Google Apps Progress Tracker. “I’m not graphic designer, obviously, so it’s very very plain right now,” he says. “But any and all suggestions welcome.”

At Infinite Zombies, five six seven writers intend to chronicle their reading of the book in a format they describe as “part book club, part Fight Club“.

Carolina created a Flickr pool. Photos are also being posted on the Facebook wall.

The Infinite Summer Ravelry group has hit 50 members. The Goodreads page has 87. The LiveJournal community continues to grow.

Bitch Ph.D says she’s on board. Marc says that, on June 21st, he’s going to turn his weblog into “my own journal of the Infinite Summer project/book club.” Kev and Emily are going to “post our gchat convos while we read infinite jest.

Katie is keeping track of her favorite DFW quotations of a Tumblelog. Someone is tweeting Infinite Jest 140 characters at a time on Twitter.

Meg is trying to talk her wedding guests into reading the novel so everyone will have something to talk about at the reception.

And here are some other folks who are talking about the project:

• Brittney of Sparkwood & 21.
• Jim of Wisdom of the West.
• Ian of The Anxiety of Influence.
• Scott of Scott Brenner.
• Colleen of Colleen Barrett.
• tlajous of pura pinche agua, who says that Infinite Summer was the inspiration for his blog.
• Lizzie of This is Geometry.

If you’ll be blogging along, let us know in the comments.