>writes book called Infinite Jest
>becomes an eternal meme
>Infinite Jest
>Eternal Meme
He predicted his memehood, prove to me he isn't a genius
Disclaimer: I haven't actually read IJ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U2zJOryHKQ
>infinite jest
>it's one long joke
>reading ij
>10pg subfootnote
well it was nice while it lasted
well there is a plot thing that is what the ij is suppose to be except it is doubly funny(?) because even though the book is suppose to be making fun of the plot device it is actually making fun of itself
>>7646088
He was a genius with poor execution. He knew this and it's why he killed himself. He desperately wanted to be one of the all-time greats and he never got there and he was smart enough to know he probably never would. So he made the ultimate career move and now he's forever sainted and overrated. The biggest problem with all this is there hasn't been anyone better than him since. This has amplified and exacerbated Wallace's overrated stature.
>>7646232
I think you're right in saying that DFW felt intellectually inadequate when standing next to the ages' literary titans, and also that his death over-sensationalized his talent, but, while it is possible, I don't think you can safely speculate that he killed himself because he knew it would seal his fame and legacy as a writer or that he quietly knew he would eternally come second. Also, I actually disagree with you about him being a genius with poor execution–not to say that he wasn't incandescently brilliant to be sure. See, I actually think it's the opposite: I think, for the style and verve of his craft, that he aired closer to average than sublime but that it was his masterful and very well thought out execution that earned him the cloak of genius. In a word: tawdry. See, his writing was substantive, peppered with novel and unwieldy even interesting ideas–the literary equivalent of a watermelon–but I don't think it was insightful or deep or vibrant enough to warrant an 1100 page wrist-breaker and the subsequent status to boot. For me, IJ was scrumptiously garrulous bombast–one of the only reasons people hail it so is because how else would they justify spending all that time reading a book that isn't THE GREATEST: cognitive dissonance at its finest. In the end, I think DFW succumbed to the truth: that he was good old neon.
idk lemme know what u think
>>7646612
Well considering that many of his contemporaries, including one of his best book world friends, Jonathen Franzen, thinks part of the reason he killed himself was a career move, I'd say it's a pretty safe bet.
>>7646757
Bet? Sure, but you were speaking in absolutes while merely speculating, and to me that's suspect and worth tending to. Also, since I love splitting hairs, suicide isn't a career move, it's a career ender: your career dies when you do. What he might have been aiming for, of which I think there's a high possibility, was eternal glory, á la the heroes of Greek lore.
>>7646869
All right. First of all, stop talking like that. And >>7646612 that.
Speaking in absolutes while merely speculating? I'm not a fucking Sith man, this isn't /tv/. No one here cares about your fedora wearing Star Wars bullshit. DFW killed himself for his career. A writer's career and legacy extends beyond his life. You'd understand this if this weren't your first time on /lit/, wandered over from /tv/ because you just got your driver's license and think you're a big boy now. To a writer, suicide is for "eternal glory". His career. You said absolutely zero things new, but I have no doubt you're convinced you just said the most profound thing in the universe.
God dam it. You kids are fucking retarded, I swear.
>>7646905
not who you're responding to but there is no need for ad hominem attacks. i agree his tone was kind of obnoxious but you got really aggressive really fast. this is exactly the kind of thing we don't want on /lit/ and you apparently hate from your lashing out at /tv/
>Wardine be cry
Holy shit I'm reading this for the first time after years of memeing here and I started cracking up
>>7646921
Fuck off.
>>7646936
why do i always get this response when i post this picture?
>>7646088
>wasn't
FTFY
>>7646926
for me it was when the next passage completely shifted gears stylistically, the passage about Mildred Bonk. I thought that was hilarious for some reason.
>>7646905
Read more.
If DFW really cared about his career he would've finished TPK, then killed himself. Even more, it doesn't explain why he tried to kill himself twice before, once after Broom of the System and another after being a Harvard grad. In neither case did DFW have a career besides some bullshit awards at Amherst and mixed journalism. If you really want the reason he killed himself look at the reason he went off Nardill. Without the Nardill there's no separating DFW from his depressive thoughts.
>taking anything Franzen says seriously
jej. I'll take his wife, biographers, and even DeLilo's word over him.
>>7646905
First look up the definition for career, then look up the definition for butthurt.
>>7646944
>BECAUSE I'M ALREADY RELAXED AND NOT BEING DEFENSIVE AT ALL AND DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO
Angry people secretly know they've already lost, I think–
>>7647053
>you're so wrong and don't even know it but i'm not going to tell you why you're wrong or even explain what i mean by 'grow up' because i don't actually know how to convey my thoughts (that i totally have but arent gonna share them with you because youre totally just a kid and i'm not acting like a spoiled hypocritical brat at all) in a mature way because what are we even talking about? fuck you that's what
Silly sounding Sith-bitch, you are ;)
>>7647014
Well reasoned post, well done.
>>7647014
holy shit you are so wrong lol
hop off dfw's dick m8 just cause you're a rabid meme fanboy doesn't mean your hero wasn't a career move hack
>>7646186
Is that the one that's its own chapter?
>>7647093
DFW isn't even my favorite author lad, in fact he wouldn't even make the top 5. Anon's snide and annoying attitude just made it an imperative to correct him. Sounds like you're just trying to follow the /lit/ hivemind :).
>>7647053
You can't just deliver the cool-kid banter without some reasons first dullard.
>>7647154
The one about the wheelchair assasins or w/e
>>7647101
I don't mind that you're not too bright, but please stop trying so hard to prove otherwise, if only for your own sake–
>>7647655
says the guy who, himself, argued nothing to begin with
that which is asserted without evidence is dismissed without evidence
Doesn't this book kind of predict the rise of Donald J Trump?
Disclaimer: I haven't actually read IJ
>>7647307
why tho—
>>7647838
I think so
Disclaimer: I haven't read it either
>>7647859
I just love em dashes–they're the most versatile punctuation mark I think, and in this case they communicate that I in fact had more to say but decided to interrupt myself in lieu of the realization that my post was basically useless due to the fact that my former interlocutor proved himself too stubborn and stupid for words, literally.
>>7646757
Because Franzen is a solipsistic narcissistic pretentious dweeb.
>>7646905
He had better prose quality than you, bud, even if his tone was a bit obnoxious.
>>7647093
0/10
lmao came here to post about this book, already a thread
>>7648238
there's always a thread about this book
I dropped IJ on the first few sentences when it said "I am in here.". Fucking meme writer
If I thought Brief Interviews with hideous men was okay would I like IJ?
>>7648828
>I am in here.
what did he mean?
>>7648953
Yeah
Disclaimer: I have not actually read IJ
Guys I'm about 50 pages in and enjoying it so far.
I have gone through a loser isolated pothead phase so I kind of understand things. This book is making me want to pick up for the first time since July
>>7648990
It's cool, man. I'm starting to think no one has read IJ and that's just another layer of the infinite meme.
>>7649055
exactly man.I only know that Marathe eventually meets Kate Gompert and she tells him that she's been offered sex by dudes who actually had legs and everything unlike him because I read about it in a newspape xDDDD
same with the part where Gately can't quite tell the difference between words JOI's wraith is shoving into his mind because he's not as smart as JOI, think it was in some university journal xDDDDD
>>7646612
wew lad, don't get lost up your own asshole there
>>7649460
nah
>>7648009
That's an en dash, not an em dash.
>>7649055
The book is just one 1000+ page long meme
Disclaimer: I haven't read it
>>7646088
>>7649978
Ope, you're right—anyway, I love em both
>>7649460
You caught me.
What's wrong with samfagging anyways?
>>7651144
*love en both
>>7646612
This should have gone in the recycle bin.
>>7651160
as in saved to be used later?!
>infinite jest
>it's finite"
>>7651473
thanks f am
>>7651479
I don't know, 1000 pages is pretty close to infinite
>>7647014
DFW blew so much smoke up Franzen's ass (audience pussy? come the fuck on.), and Franzen is such a credulous retard that he couldn't see through the act. Good Old Neon is a good story to read if you want to understand DFW's pitiful need to impress others with falseness.
>>7647062
>Angry people secretly know they've already lost.
Oh fudge, oh man why does this sadden me so much.
>>7646118
The ride never ends.
>>7653167
because you're angry
>>7653167
There's anger that arises out of the rejection of injustice, and then there's anger that arises out of frustration in a debate–how that frustration comes about depends, but it usually has something to do with being frustrated about either being wrong or unable to argue your point properly, regardless of validity. People on 4chan usually get angry because the latter, what with our sensitive egos and whatnots
funny but having read all dfw except broom of the system & having seen him read live in sf
& having witnessed his ascension to memehood i remember just walkin through the library one day & seeing this book called girl w/ curious hair & going dafaq is that about? & then goin whoa & showing it to some friends & they were like whoa...
>>7650997
spoken from a man w/ no discernible neck
Guys, I just found an essay based on the 20th anniversary foreword of I.J. by Tom Bissell, written by himself.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/books/review/everything-about-everything-david-foster-wallaces-infinite-jest-at-20.html
Since the 20th anniversary edition is yet to be sold at the ends of this month, this might suffice some of you for the moment.
>>7646118
>>7646145
>>7646211
>>7646186
>>7646612
>>7646757
>>7646869
>>7646905
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>>7646926
>>7646936
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>>7646955
>>7646991
>>7647014
>>7647044
>>7647053
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>>7653928
(you)
>>7646088
>prove to me he isn't a genius
well that would be impossible anon ;)
>>7653954
Well buddy, only three of those posts were made by me, and that's a stretch as "samefagging goes"
I would never give THAT much effort to do an entire full blown thread by doing that, it's a pure waste of time.
If that's even what you're implying.
>>7653984 (you)
no I wasn't
I can see that it says '34 posters'
Just wanted to give everyone a (you)
>>7653988
Oh okay, a relief to hear. I'm now jested.
>>7653998
let's all keep on memeing happily
>>7654007
Still, check the article I posted, I'll be giving it a read soon, I've been wanting to read the foreword for a few weeks now before doing that Infinite Winter reading group thing, which will probably lead me to read the other previous foreword in the process because I'm not getting the 20th anniversary edition.
>>7646088
I listened up to the part where he bought some stuff. Should I continue or not bother? (I listen at 3x, it's faster than reading).
>>7654038
Continue for sure. After that is when it gets REALLY good
Disclaimer: I haven't read it
>>7654038
How does the voice sound, squeaky as the cartoon chipmunk music?
>>7654059
No, I use vlc, which adjusts the pitch.
>>7654083
Ah, very swell, what option do I need to actually accomplish this on VLC?
>>7646232
Read Farther Away by Franzen. It's a short essay on DFW.
In it he says (I'm paraphrasing here) in order to justify his own suicide, his death had to injurious to someone. In that way he could prove that he didn't deserve to be loved.
Kinda to broke my heart, t b h f a m.
>>7653740
Don't know why I kek'd so hard.
>>7654122
Neither do I
>>7654112
Or just read Good Old Neon, why would you not read Good Old Neon
>>7646088
>I haven't actually read IJ
Let's besincere, nobody here has.
>>7654315
I'm working on Oblivion, but Mister Squishy was really underwhelming for me.
>>7653709
Wait, do you disagree or agree with my anger post? I'd genuinely like to hear your thoughts.
>>7654636
Never mind the other post about me asking.
Well, I figure you meant that description on what is it that saddens me.
I agree, people on 4chan do get angry too easy and that's why tons here lose arguments over trolls who don't give three single fucks and aren't really actually trying to make a real valid point, instead instigating assholes that might actually be on to something, and that's very retrogressive, and your description, I find it very effective, thanks.
>>7654104
Preferences/Audio/Enable Time-Stretching audio
>>7655109
Cheers, chap—
>>7655275
Thanx, hope you finish the audio book and actually enjoy the thing in the whole process, regardless of the general opinion on it being not so good as other works of his.
Serious question in a meme thread.
Do you have to be American/Canadian to truly appreciate IJ?
Reading it I see a number of subtleties that seen truly and unapologetically American
