Infinite Summer

Formed in the summer of 2009 to read David Foster Wallace's masterwork "Infinite Jest".
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 Post subject: p. 60, first full graf - what is it and why is it there?
PostPosted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 2:41 pm 
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Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2009 6:58 pm
Posts: 13
This is the graf after the last lines of our first meeting with Gately. Beginning "Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment: Interlace..." through the end of that graf. It appears to be a rundown of the features of a top-end teleputer, with the last line and one half running down physical symptoms that arise as a result of using it ... wrist/finger pain, hedache, hurt back, fattened butt.

Is this meant to be a piece of the Prince of Q's medical attache episode line?

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 Post subject: Re: p. 60, first full graf - what is it and why is it there?
PostPosted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 5:08 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:50 pm
Posts: 71
I viewed it as like a scrap of archaeology, like picking up a tech catalog within the novel and reading one of the descriptions. It gives us an idea of the framework of technology the characters are immersed in. When you think about it, as much as the typical user knows these days about computer specs (amounts of RAM, processor speed, ports, etc.), we could probably pick up a catalog from ten years ago and have a pretty accurate notion/reminder of the user limitations of that time.

Plus, the way he gives the data here, followed by the side effects, echoes Wallace's detailed descriptions of drugs and their side effects that appear early in the footnotes. I think the parallel implies that teleputer (TP) use (and entertainment in general, by extension) is not so different from drug use (which is supported by how many use TV and the Internet today).


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 Post subject: Re: p. 60, first full graf - what is it and why is it there?
PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 6:42 am 
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Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:21 pm
Posts: 12
To me it was more of an introduction to TPs from a technical standpoint, Mostly (in my opinion) for Wallace to be like "A TP comes with this, this, and this, (actual components/specs), and this, this, and this (nasty results of TP addiction)."

I liked the graf.


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