![Infinite_jest_cover[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/1WGV0aM.jpg "Infinite_jest_cover[1].jpg")
>"I do things like get in a taxi and say, 'The library, and step on it.'"
>that entire ebonics section, which would probably be offensive if it wasn't so incoherent
>multiple mathematical errors and a hilariously faulty understanding of organic chemistry (DFW later admitted that he just copied most of the information on drugs out of a pharmaceutical textbook)
>completely unnecessary endnotes which are not only irritating to read but destroy the cohesion of the narrative rather than allow it to flow
>"And so but"
>frequent and casual use of the word "fag" + multiple transphobic portrayals of transvestites and the ambiguously-gendered
>goofy names, obsession with popular entertainment and the invisible social structures which govern us, postmodern style, endless abbreviations, yet DFW claims to have never read Pynchon
It's obvious to anybody who looks beyond the size of the book, the front cover blurbs from Wallace's MFA-cronies, and the many 4chan memes, that this is not a good book. It's an insecure attempt by Wallace to demonstrate to the literary establishment that he was just as smart as he thought he was, and he failed.
Please /lit/, look beyond DFW's carefully manufactured celebrity appeal and listen to Bloom. Some of you are better than this.
>>7521981
>"I do things like get in a taxi and say, 'The library, and step on it.'"
It's said by a precocious anxiety-ridden 18 year old. And it's brilliant even if you dislike it for... well, what exactly? Edginess? Ego?
>which would probably be offensive if it wasn't so incoherent
It is coherent on a close read. You wanna say you didn't read the book or? You skimmed through then made this thread?
>hilariously faulty understanding of organic chemistry(DFW later admitted that he just copied most of the information on drugs out of a pharmaceutical textbook)
Anon, most of the chemicals are made up. It's fiction. Wallace never admitted any of this.
This thread is a very poor and cancerous b8.
>>7521981
>>frequent and casual use of the word "fag" + multiple transphobic portrayals of transvestites and the ambiguously-gendered
stopped right there
>>7521981
>DFW claims to have never read Pynchon.
can you link me to a quote of some kind on this?
also i think you were trying not to enjoy infinite jest or went into it with the wrong expectations. i think its a pretty outstanding novel myself.
>>7521981
https://warosu.org/lit/?task=search2&ghost=yes&search_text=pynchon&search_op=op
wait a sec this is a copypasta fuck you
>>7521981
just working through a response tree to your post gives me the howling fantods
>>7521993
>It's said by a precocious anxiety-ridden 18 year old
It's said by a thirty year old man pretending to be a precocious and anxiety-ridden 18 year old. I had to double-check that I wasn't reading John Green after that line; my eyes rolled so fast I thought I was going to give myself vertigo.
>It is coherent on a close read.
It's not worth the effort of a close read. Do you think DFW ever actually had a conversation with a black person? Why does he think black people talk like mentally-handicapped four year olds? Too much on the tennis court and not enough in halfway houses, methinks.
>You wanna say you didn't read the book or? You skimmed through then made this thread?
I'm still reading it (pg. 289) and I'm extremely disappointed so far. Wasn't this supposed to be a modern classic? The back cover has a quote from I think the Atlantic which claims that the novel is "surprisingly readable." Which of course begs the question, why would it be surprising that this book is readable? I posit that this book is unsurprisingly mediocre.
>Anon, most of the chemicals are made up. It's fiction. Wallace never admitted any of this.
Not an excuse, the laws of chemistry he pretends to follow are not fictional. Please let's just admit that that this guy wanted to give the image that he knew what he was talking about rather than actually take the effort to understand what he was talking about.
>>7522019
From what I recall he just said he never read TCoL49 when people said Broom of the System or whatever it's called was similar to it.
>>7521981
>Every sentence ends with "and there's something terribly sad and banal about that."
But one bad line and a couple of errors don't ruin a book, especially one of that size. Many of your complaints are just stylistic things that you don't like for arbitrary reasons.haven't actually read the book, I only know the memes
>>7522074
ah ok maybe but i am almost positive he read either v or gravitys rainbow i mean there are direct allusions to gravitys rainbow in infinite jest like the shadow specters that steeply and marathe cast over the city
>>7522071
you aren't even trying anymore.
>>7522092
There's a difference between an allusion and plagiarism, you know. Do you enjoy rap music by any chance?
>>7522109
not really why do you ask?
>>7522117
Well it's a genre that entirely dependent upon plagiarism and you seem to be comfortable with such abuse of creative works.
>>7522128
frankly i think it was a lazy reference that would only really appeal to other literary snobs like wallace himself but i never said that i approved, was just explaining it.
>He doesn't read a book 3 times before critiquing it!
>>7521981
Bait. You also clearly haven't read past the first 100 pages.
>>7522185
Why else would he make threads about a 20 year old book?
>>7522208
You only read new books?
>>7521981
>frequent and casual use of the word "fag" + multiple transphobic portrayals of transvestites and the ambiguously-gendered
bait was decent up till this point
>>7522071
>thirty year old man pretending to be a precocious and anxiety-ridden 18 year old
Did I miss a huge plot device or is Hal secretly in his 30s?
>>7521981
You're the kind of guy who would bash on the history of whaling chapters in Moby Dick, right?
>>7522128
>sampling is plagiarism
>intertextual interpolation of other songs' lyrics into newer lyrics is plagiarism
You sound like some dadrock-loving fag who doesn't know half of Led Zeppelin's catalogue is ripped off of Italian blues bands, which is, mind you, legitimate plagiarism, as hip-hop producers and rap lyricists actually credit those whose work they borrow and build upon
>>7521981
>that entire ebonics section, which would probably be offensive if it wasn't so incoherent
>frequent and casual use of the word "fag" + multiple transphobic portrayals of transvestites and the ambiguously-gendered
Thank you for your concern tumblr, please submit your feedback here and we will discipline Wallace's corpse for these thoughtcrimes as soon as possible:
http://encyclopediadramatica.se/Offended
>>7522019
Its a misquote
DFW never claimed to have not read Pynchon
Gaddis explicitly claims to have not read Pynchon (at least when he released J R) after being directly confronted about it, specifically because J R deals with energy, chaos, disorder, and thermodynamics. J R was released in 75, after GR had already been out a few years
>>7522850
>Italian blues bands
See, the problem is I speak to suburban kids
Who otherwise woulda never knew footnotes exist
>>7523214
Wallace claimed that he hadn't read Lot 49 when he started writing Broom of the System, which was a lie.
>>7522071
>I'm steal reading it (p.289)
>289
stopped right there, opinion discarded.
