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Avery Edison

• Avery Edison

  Mission Improbable

  09.17.09 | Permalink | 27 Comments

  Yes, I know — the term “mission improbable” brings up around forty-five thousand results in Google. I am, very decidedly, not the first person to think of it. Last week I went with the title “Grapes of Wraith”, which was somewhat poorly received in the comments section. One commenter improved it, though, changing the title […]

• Avery Edison

  Grapes of Wraith

  09.10.09 | Permalink | 58 Comments

  Yes, I’ll start off by apologizing for that post title. It’s an awful pun, rendered more awful when viewed in light of the fact that it doesn’t even make sense. Still — we’ve just spent the summer reading Infinite Jest, so hopefully we’re used to things not making sense. I, for one, thought I was […]

• Avery Edison

  The Biblical Experience of Reading Infinite Jest

  08.28.09 | Permalink | 33 Comments

  Avery Edison is in transit today, so Nick Douglas is subbing in. Nick Douglas is the editor of Twitter Wit: Brilliance in 140 Characters or Less, a collection of witty tweets, which was released earlier this week. I’m an atheist – if I were in AA, I’d get on my knees with far less openness […]

• Avery Edison

  Everybody Hurts (Except Mario Incandenza)

  08.20.09 | Permalink | 52 Comments

  I am coming to believe that there is not one normal character in this book.77 We see characters with physical deformities (the wheelchair assassins, Mario); mental problems (Himself, Kate Gompert, others); substance addictions (the Ennet house gang, a vast number of students at E.T.A); sociopathic tendencies (Lenz, Lenz, Lenz); obsessive compulsions (Avril Incandenza, Lateral Alice […]

• Avery Edison, Eden M. Kennedy, Kevin Guilfoile, Matthew Baldwin, Rountables

  Midsummer Roundtable, Part V

  08.14.09 | Permalink | 7 Comments

  This is the fifth of a five-part roundtable discussion with the Infinite Summer Guides. Infinite Summer: Any predictions as to what will happen in the second half of the novel? Matthew Baldwin: I’ll tell you what I’m not expecting: anything resembling a standard climax or dénouement. In nearly all of Wallace’s non- and short-fiction I’ve […]

• Avery Edison, Eden M. Kennedy, Kevin Guilfoile, Matthew Baldwin, Rountables

  Midsummer Roundtable, Part IV

  08.13.09 | Permalink | 22 Comments

  This is the fourth of a five-part roundtable discussion with the Infinite Summer Guides. Infinite Summer: Kevin, do you find Wallace’s style influencing your own? Will the title of your next novel (The Thousand) refer to the number of endnotes you went back and inserted? Kevin Guilfoile: I’m pretty easily influenced by anything that I […]

• Avery Edison, Eden M. Kennedy, Kevin Guilfoile, Matthew Baldwin, Rountables

  Midsummer Roundtable, Part III

  08.12.09 | Permalink | 41 Comments

  This is the third of a five-part roundtable discussion with the Infinite Summer Guides. Infinite Summer: Does anyone have a favorite character? Avery Edison: I’ve written before about liking Hal the most, whilst suspecting that he may be a dick. That’s still holding true. I tend to like the smarter characters, and in a book […]

• Avery Edison, Eden M. Kennedy, Kevin Guilfoile, Matthew Baldwin, Rountables

  Midsummer Roundtable, Part II

  08.11.09 | Permalink | 36 Comments

  This is the second of a five-part roundtable discussion with the Infinite Summer Guides. Infinite Summer: Have you been sticking to the schedule? Avery Edison: For the first time since the project started I’m sticking to the schedule. I had been catching up in 75-page burst the day before my posts were due to be […]

• Avery Edison, Eden M. Kennedy, Kevin Guilfoile, Matthew Baldwin, Rountables

  Midsummer Roundtable, Part I

  08.10.09 | Permalink | 41 Comments

  This is the first of a five-part roundtable discussion with the Infinite Summer Guides. Infinite Summer: Congratulations on reaching the halfway point. Eden M. Kennedy: Thanks. Matthew Baldwin: Huzzah! Avery Edison: Thank you. Although I think that once you factor in the endnotes, we technically haven’t even started. Kevin Guilfoile: I turned 40 last year, […]

• Avery Edison

  Humble Pie

  08.06.09 | Permalink | 24 Comments

  Alright. You got me — I’m kind of enjoying this book now. And when I say “kind of”, I mean “a lot”. I’m writing this post extremely late because I’ve been staying up at night to read Infinite Jest. I’ve skipped out on plans with my family to stay in and read it. Heck — […]

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The Book

the challenge

Join endurance bibliophiles from around the world in reading Infinite Jest over the summer of 2009, June 21st to September 22nd. A thousand pages¹ ÷ 92 days = 75 pages a week. No sweat.

1. Plus endnotes^a.
a. A lot of them.

The Search

The Last 10 Posts

• Infinite Index
• Acknowledgements
• Summer’s End Roundtable, Part IV
• Summer’s End Roundtable, Part III
• Summer’s End Roundtable, Part II
• Summer’s End Roundtable, Part I
• The End
• Roundup
• Greg Carlisle: Reading Infinite Jest Changed My Life (and Now It Will Change Yours)
• Mission Improbable

The Last 10 Comments

• Pemulis' Yachting Cap on Mission Improbable: Ooh, I’m thinking maybe Gately’s ginormous head has to do...
• Pemulis' Yachting Cap on I Got This Fire In My Heart, Won’t Let Me Sleep, Can’t Concentrate…: Nucks...
• Pemulis' Yachting Cap on Summer’s End Roundtable, Part III: I just realized that Mario reminds me a bit of Owen...
• Pemulis' Yachting Cap on Summer’s End Roundtable, Part III: I’m finished! I’d started last summer...
• Peer on Acknowledgements: Thanks for the link. I will check it out. I was just hoping for some announcements here...
• Prolixian on Acknowledgements: Peer – if you are interested in 2666, check out bolanobolano.com. A group read...
• Peer on Acknowledgements: When will we start the new book?
• Todeswalzer on Acknowledgements: RIP Infinite Summer. It was great while it lasted.
• Medusa4303 on Join the Tunnel Club: Thanks. Scott! I have just joined the Bolano group, and I am looking forward to...
• ariel on Join the Tunnel Club: thank you scott!!

The Directory