This is the last of a four-part roundtable discussion with the Infinite Summer Guides.
Infinite Summer: Did Infinite Jest change your life?
Avery Edison: It’s definitely got me reading books again, which is marvelous. I hadn’t realized how much the internet had affected my ability to just sit down and read a book, and — looking back — the first half of IJ was all that tougher because I was re-training my attention span in addition to trying to process Wallace’s prose. I’ve read four or five books in the two weeks since I finished Infinite Jest (yep — I finished early. Was very proud.) and I can’t even conceive of that kind of achievement pre-Infinite Summer.
Aside from that, I’ve found myself with an interest in tennis for the first time in my life. I’m normally the sort to avoid the sport if it ever shows up on my TV, but this past week I spent half an hour watching volleys on YouTube, and reading DFW’s NYTimes article on Roger Federer.
I’ve also managed to quit drinking caffeine (well, Coca-Cola) after coming to the realization that I was utterly addicted to the stuff (“when it gets to the stage when you need it…”) I’ve tried to quit a few times before, on an almost annual basis, and never managed it. But as I’ve lowered my levels every day and still gone through withdrawal I’ve found myself thinking “one day at a time” and pushing through.
Eden M. Kennedy: I agree with Avery on the first and last counts; it had been forever since I’d tackled a Big Book and it took an almost physical act of will to get my mind working at a speed that surpassed what it takes to skim Esquire magazine. (I am now halfway through DFW’s Consider the Lobster, which is blessedly smooth terrain after IJ.) And my respect and appreciation for my friends in AA has increased a thousandfold. I’m still an indifferent tennis spectator, despite my son’s newfound love of rallying from the service line, but I really loved watching Oudin in this year’s U.S. Open.
The book itself changed my life in the way that any great book does. I’ll certainly never forget it, and I’m certain little connections between the book and my life will continue to click together over time. For example, last week I found out my dental hygienist is three years sober; I wouldn’t have dreamed of asking her about her experience in AA if I hadn’t read IJ.
Kevin Guilfoile: I finished IJ on a Friday (After how many months? I don’t even remember.) and on Saturday I read an entire other novel in an afternoon.
Did it change my life? When you first say that it sounds hyperbolic, but of course great books have changed my life again and again. I became a novelist because there were great novels I read and admired. To Kill a Mockingbird changed my life. So did The Martian Chronicles. A Confederacy of Dunces. The Brothers Karamazov. Doctor No. The Moviegoer. The Stars My Destination. Lonesome Dove. Rosemary’s Baby. Frankenstein. In Cold Blood. London Fields. The Shining. L.A. Confidential. Too many others to list. I said before that it’s impossible for me to casually rattle off my favorite books because the list changes depending on when you ask me and what I’m working on and thinking about and currently inspired by. But I’m sure Infinite Jest will always be in the rotation now when I attempt an answer. Just being in that company means, yeah, it affected me profoundly.
Matthew Baldwin: Funny story. Back in April I was in a bar, sharing beers with a buddy of mine, and I mentioned this crazy idea I had of an Internet-wide reading of Infinite Jest. My friend got very quiet for a moment, like he was debating whether to confess something. And when he finally spoke, he did so hesitantly. “That book,” he said. “I mean, Infinite Jest? That book, it kind of changed my life man.”
I didn’t roll my eyes, or laugh in a way that wasn’t happy. But only because I suppressed the urge. I mean, come on. It’s a book.
And now, thinking back on that moment a half a year later, I inwardly cringe at my reaction to his sincerity. I think I owe that guy a beer. Honestly, I think I owe the entire Internet a beer.
Matthew, I think you’ve got it backwards: The entire Internet owes you a beer. (You might not want to accept, though, lest you become like one of the characters in the AA portions of the book.)
Thanks again, guides. Thanks.
Well, it certainly changed my perspective of Infinite Jest, a huge book that as it got farther and farther to the bottom of my tower of my books TBR, I wanted to read less and less. I couldn’t imagine taking the time away from other books to read it. And now that I’ve finished IJ, I don’t seem to want to start another book. Instead, all week I’ve been flipping through IJ, rereading my underlinings, making new discoveries, and trying to process finishing it in series of five posts on my blog. I just don’t seem to want to let it go.
Thanks, all. Reading IJ has been wonderful experience that would not have been the same without this amazing collaboration of readers.
// Jason
Like fighting in Fight Club (“After fighting, everything else in your life got the volume turned down.”) every other book I read outside of Infinite Summer and IJ, feels really quiet.
Matthew, what you created was more than a blog (which I’m sure you know and intended). I studied math and now teach math, but took a handful of literature and writing classes in college. Since then, I have never felt so enriched by anything I’ve read. This experience was nice and new: some weird world beyond a book club or a lit class.
As a teacher, I’ll say you did a stellar job creating a forum for this. I hated reading blogs and frankly have no time for them; but this opened my mind to how this medium can be used effectively and intellectually. It’s not just another place for people with nothing better to do to rant about health care or war in Iraq. And frankly, I’ve learned to appreciate the tried and true bloggers thanks to the links throughout the summer.
I was not interested in Dracula, but have decided to get a copy and follow again next month due to this forum.
Thanks to all who were a part of this, but esp the leaders.
“I owe the entire internet a beer.”
Hilarious.
Yes, indeed, Matthew, as others have said, this was a big gift you’ve given to all of us. You’ve also nudged the internet, just slightly, in a more interesting direction. And thank you, as well, to the guides, and to all the readers here who have helped make Infinite Jest a deeper and more rewarding experience. Well done!
Absolutely – Bravo(a) to Matthew and all of the guides! This has been a wonderful experience and like others I’ve spent the last week since finishing the book trying to process it. I loved it, non-ending and all, and I loved the IS world as well. Everyone has been gracious and accepting and it felt great to participate in the forums knowing all were welcome and it wasn’t a lit crit class. I can say that yes, the book changed my life in ways I can understand at the moment even though I’m still working on articulating them, and it has probably changed my life in ways I’m not even aware of yet. I’ve been a voracious reader for most of my life and this just reinforced that. There are a couple of short non-fiction works on my nightstand at the moment that I’m hoping to get through in the next week because I’ve already got my copy of Dracula and am ready for the fun to begin with it.
[…] now finished too, have been having a series of discussions about the book as a whole, and were asked today, “Did Infinite Jest change your life?” I wouldn’t go so far as to say it changed […]
Just a word of thanks to all concerned — Infinite Jest may not be the best novel I’ve ever read, but I enjoyed reading it more than any other novel I can think of. And I never would have picked it up if it hadn’t been for Infinite Summer.
Like others have expressed, it has reawakened the joy of reading things longer than a magazine article and perhaps recalibrated my attention span. If possible, I’m on board for Dracula and Bolano.
And so but thanks again. (And on behalf of the Internet, I accept those 280 million beers!)
David Dawson
Memphis, TN
(Picture a mouth screaming wide in angst) how can this end? Sure I’ll no doubt keep opening up my copy of IJ and reread (posts also)- AND I plan to try and do Dracula too – but – THIS HAS BEEN a way better experience than any prior commitment I’ve ever made to a book. Thanks to all.
I also wanted to add my thanks to Matthew for setting this up, the guides for leading the way, and to everyone who participated, whether it a post, a comment or a link to some place interesting (I loved the Flickr group).
I finished the book early and have found myself thinking about scenes and characters from IJ again and again. Reading the book with so many smart people increased my enjoyment many times over. This was fun. Count me in on the next one.
I’d like to add my thanks to all the guides for creating this experience, and also to all my fellow readers. In describing Infinite Summer to friends and colleagues, I’ve had some trouble describing the experience. Participating in such rich discussions with an intelligent, funny and insightful group of people has been wonderful. I can’t help but think that as an author and especially as a teacher, DFW would have been really pleased with what we’ve accomplished.
What a fantastic little story to end with, Matthew! It just encapsulates what IJ is all about.
I’d like to echo what some others have said above – Infinite Summer has made the internet a more interesting place, at least for me. You’ve created something new, and in doing so brought likeminded people together in shared love and debate, which if you think about it means you fulfil some of the criteria of the genuine artist.
Kudos to you, and to all who participated.
Matthew – I’m with those that think that we all owe you a beer. Thanks for organizing this event, without which I probably would still be staring at IJ on my bookshelf. I got the book last December, read chapter 1 and set it aside as being too time consuming to attack. When I heard about the Infinite Summer project about 3 weeks before the start (via Salon or NYTimes, I think) , I decided to commit to it, even though I’ve never been involved in a book club before (being a bit of a commitmentphobe in that regard. Full disclosure: I didn’t REALLY decide to commit until after the first 150 pages or so, in case I fell off the wagon, so to speak).
The book re-jiggered my thinking and view of the world in ways that I did not expect at all, and it was tremendous to read the accounts of others as they worked their way through the same pages at the same time.
Thanks also to Avery, Eden and Kevin for committing to the project and providing your thoughts, even though it was clearly going at times for some of you. Whether I agree or disagreed with a post of the day, your posts always gave me much to reflect upon.
Agree with Daryl. Matthew, if you ever happen to visit Hyderabad(India), do e-mail me about the beer I owe you.
Thanks to all the guides and fellow readers. Man, this internet is a wonderful thing!
Thanks, guides. Thuides. (Cf.)
It definitely reconfigured my default setting as far as reading books. I am reading “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” now on some recommendations and it feels like a pamphlet. A few months ago I probably wouldn’t have even picked it up because I gotten so out of the habit of reading. I had a funny thing happen, though, as I was reading “TEOTH” last night. I was starting to doze off as I tried to finish a paragraph and when I snapped out of it I went back to look if I had missed any endnote numbers. And, wait for it, was DISAPPOINTED when I realized I was not going to find any because I was not reading IJ anymore. Woah.
I want to buy all the guides and all the commenters and all the other bloggers beers. Or cokes. Or soda waters. Whatever will best convey my deep and abiding gratitude for making this such an amazing experience. Thank you.
Just finished Infinite Jest on Saturday and happened upon Infinite Summer today. Would like to say that I read Infinite Jest over the course of the summer, but I don’t remember when I started it. I think I started reading it in very early spring. All I can recall is that when I walked to the bookstore to buy Infinite Jest, I was wearing a winter coat. Not sure that the book changed my life except for the fact that I can now tell people I read Infinite Jest which might make me sound like a big shot or just an asshole. What I do love about Wallace’s prose is both the control he displays and his looseness with the language. I remember reading an article about him which mentioned that one of Wallace’s stated aims in writing was to make the reading experience enjoyable. Totally comes through in Infinite Jest (can I write “IJ” or is that lazy?), and not in spite of the complex narrative and prose but rather because of it. Total fricken’ genius.
Like many others here Infinite Jest was sitting on my bookshelf staring at me for quite some time. Infinite Summer was the nudge I needed to finally tackle the beast. Having read most of Wallace’s other books I had a pretty good idea what I was in for, but with so many other amazing books I’ve yet to read the idea of carving out all that time for one tome was my main qualm. Thanks to you for motivating me to read this incredible book that enriched me in strange ways, and I believe made me a better reader to boot.
well,I just finished reading I J on Sat. Oct. 10th!” am overwhelmed by feelings of joy to be at long last not skipping out on socializing to Read My Book. To be free to read another book. Yet I don’t want to read any other mere “regular” book, for fear all will pale in IJ’s Shadow. And also I just want to let it steepand marinate and age like fine wine. A strange paradox! for like maybe a month or two. Like many of you I have a new respect t appreciation for tennis, AA, Quebec Separatists, drug addicts (like what Weezer sings “we are all on drugs”), disabled people’s potential to rise above their impairments, and generally more respect/ Sympathy for teenagers. This was my first Wallace book. I think my next read will have to be another of his. Anyone else feel sorta like the Spaniard Swordsman at the end of The Princess Bride when he confesses “I’ve been in the revenge business for so long, now that I’ve had mine, I don’t know what to do with myself”?
A big thanks to the brain of this infite summer, and a toast to the incredible author David Foster Wallace, who is much missed by all. And thanks to the Stranger newspaper for mentioning I. S. last April- Nick in seattle