so i know you guys say theres really not anything to read as a preparation for infinite jest and that is the easiest one in the meme trilogy but seriously, for someone with a very small background in literature is there anything i can do beforehand to understand better these meme?
read D.H. lawrence
Yeah. A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, his first book of essays. Listening to the radio interviews Wallace gave to promote the book will help too.
Just don't read it man. Go to college. Read books. Come back to it in five years if you're still curious what it is.
You're just going to waste your time and spoil a great deal of reading for yourself if you try to read Infinite Jest. It isn't complicated, but if you aren't well read it will probably be boring. I mean that honestly.
Go read Calvino, go read Chaucer, go read Cervantes...you should even read earlier DFW if you really must read Infinite Jest. Pick up Brief Interviews and read it next year. Then if you're really into it let 2018 be your year of Infinite Jest.
There are many, many writers you can choose who are both more complex and thought provoking while also being more accessible. I know that sounds paradoxical, but it takes a certain conditioning of mind to take on books like Infinite Jest that are essentially written for life-long readers.
just know that when you first read IJ the first 200 are confusing due to the nonlinearity. it'll make sense, dont worry. just go through the motions through those 200 pages
As long as you have read hamlet, you're good.
>>7589448
This
You should skip it and read something more worthwhile. If you are new to lit there are so many better and more important things to read than this tripe that gets memed on /lit/
>>7589274
just read the book, princess
>>7589497
Name 2, and see if I don't destroy what you post
>>7589287
don't listen to this schmuck. If you're interested enough to read it now and go into the book excited, don't wait 2 years to read it lmao.
>>7589287
This is your typical /lit/ pseud's advice and it's a load of pretentious smegma. Just read the fucking book OP, other than the requirement for infinite fingers to bookmark the footnotes glossary as you're reading, there's nothing else you need. The book is extremely readable.
I read IJ in high school for fucks sake. Just read the damn book nigga.
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again
Hamlet
>>7589680
Ready player one
The odyssey
Your move
Is it possible to read this in epub/pdf or do I need a physical copy?
>>7589287
bad advice: the post
>>7589274
Honestly just read it. Sit down, read it and stick with it.
There is really no point in "preparation" unless you really haven't read anything at all before.
>>7589274
I'm not an expert, but I plan on tackling IJ thiss year, but I'm going to read Both Flesh and Not First. I've read the first couple sections, it's a collections of articles/short stories DFW wrote.
>>7591039
> all those typos
Apologies ohana, I am high as fuck.
But seriously home skillet, just read the text.
>>7590339
>The odyssey
replace it with The Martian and you have a damn fine list
>>7590783
Every book can be read electronically. But I think reading the physical copies (with two bookmarks) is easier. That's how I did it.
And OP, just read the book. But try not to give up around the 200-300 page mark. After that, everything will fall into place.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-01-14/zika-disease-credited-with-dramatic-rise-of-microcephaly-in-brazil
>year of the overpriced memphones
>not reading the gospel of DFW (may sincerity be with him)
>what are you doing with your life senpai?
>>7593088
>overpriced memphones
audio technica ath-m50x?
>tfw reading IJ on an e-reader
Am I ironic enough yet?
>>7593105
I'm reading it from a pdf on my phone which I connected to my laptop which I connected to my television.
>>7591052
>After that, everything will fall into place.
The title of the work is Infinite Jest.
>>7593116
Wew
>>7589274
Make notes for each character and it'll all come together and you'll enjoy yourself. Don't stress about making it fit chronologically until you're done with the book but it will make sense if you just write down what happened to a character and in what year when you see them.
You could die tomorrow in a car crash, and you want to spend your last moments reading IJ? Lol
>>7593421
Lmao dude I just read this and I'm 350 pages in. I now feel like I'm making a terrible mistake
>>7589274
how the fuck hasn't anybody said it yet?
start with the Greeks nigga
>>7594957
you can apply that to anything in your life thats not monumental
youre probably fucking around and so is the guy youre replying to but I hear that logic so much and its retarded
>lol a plane can crash into your house RIGHT NOW and you want to spend your last moments eating breakfast?
>>7594975
shut the fuck up
>>7593434
>replying to obvious bait
Found the redditor
>>7591045
>ohana
shit, that's good
>>7595282
>trying to deflect attention