What do I need to know going into this book to get anything out of it? Someone suggested re-watching Hamlet which seems like a good idea but what else?
>>8246072
half the book is annotations, if it was the first book you've ever read you wouldn't miss anything.
>>8246072
society of the spectacle
simulation and simulacra
>>8246072
it's based on 'the royal tenenbaums' movie - maybe you should watch that first
>>8246072
There's one thing and one thing only that the mods could do to immensely improve the board, instantly, overnight, and that's facilitate more threads about David Foster Wallace. Create them, nurture the ones that exist, guide the discussions, and make sure they stay on track. If we're here to discuss literature, ultimately, we are here to discuss David Foster Wallace. There is no way for a person to grasp the full implications of Infinite Jest and not realize this. We're talking about the smartest man who ever lived. You must realize this. It's not a joke anymore. We're seeing the world degenerate further and further into chaos, and we're standing by and watching it happen. You want to fix this board? You want to fix the world? You want to fix your life? You need only take one step: read Infinite Jest. There is no substitute for hard work, and that's what Wallace requires of you if you are to understand him. If you are to understand not just him, but the world. We're not talking about escapist literature, fan fiction, genre nonsense. We're talking about saving our lives. We're talking about meditating on God. We're talking about communing with the primary presence. This is not an issue to be treated lightly.
>>8246087
Stop it with the spamming
Over-hyped book that I will not read unless I'm a 90 year old dying man in bed who has exhausted all reading material and this would be the last thing I flip through.
>>8246104
"Overhyped"
... Hasn't read it.
I was not interested in IJ until some anon said it was about being sincere in a world that has become too ironic. Sounds nice desu. I want off this memecoaster already.
Be ready to have your vocabulary challenged, the book is full of abstruse words.
>>8246289
The perfect e-book. Just look up all the words and you don't have to futz with it and the footnotes you just tap the link
>>8246240
So anyone who thinks the book is overrated hasn't read it?
>>8246633
>the footnotes you just tap the link
How is that easier than, you know, looking at the bottom of the page?
>>8246699
It is overrated, but I did read it, and I loved it.
>>8246748
I thought it was overrated, yes I read it. I did not love it. I was fairly ambivalent about it.
It is an encyclopedic novel with literally thousands of references; you'd need to read a large portion of the western canon, most important philosophical works, and watch a ton of film to get everything out of it. Instead just watch this is water, his german interview, and his kcrw bookworm interview and you'll be okay. The book isn't oppressive in its intellect, he could've written something much more difficult.
>>8246104
>Overhyped
>Haven't read
Choose one faggot.
>>8246072
It's not as good as the other "meme trilogy" books, but it's not terrible either. It really didn't need to be as long as it was.
Its main flaw is that other authors did all the things it tried to do better.
The Recognitions was funnier, more tragic, and addressed many of the same themes more effectively.
Gravity's Rainbow was a better depiction of drug-induced paranoid conspiracies.
Finnegans Wake fractured reality in ways dfw couldn't and had a chapter with notes that was way more insane than any of the ones in IJ.
>>8246702
Those are not footnotes. Anon meant to say endnotes
what does it mean for literature to be ironic (or post modern (are they the same thing?))?
>>8248207
>ironic (or post modern (are they the same thing?))
thanks i needed a laugh
I just got done reading it for the first time and it's easily the best book I've ever read. I've read hundreds of the top novels of the last 500 years or so and this is easily the best, at least for me, where I am in my life and how I view the world and how the book connects with me.
>>8246699
but you've already admitted to not having read it.
>>8249969
That was the first time I've posted in this thread.
