DAVID FOSTER WALLACES INFINITE JEST: A READERS GUIDE PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Stephen J. Burn | 144 pages | 21 Jun 2012 | Continuum Publishing Corporation | 9781441157072 | English | New York, United States David Foster Wallaces Infinite Jest: A Readers Guide PDF Book This is disappointing as one has the sense the reviewer left many issues of the magnums opus "on the table". It is described as structured like the human brain. Burn is excellent at showing some of the structural intricacy of IJ, and how the annular patterns of the book connect to the exploration of the disintegration of the post-modern self and Wa I'm working on a paper on DFW and so I thought I should take a look at a bit of standard scholarship. Alan Hedblad. The E. He was interviewed in national magazines and went on a city book tour. He also includes significant scholarship about Wallace's other writings, including a close reading of Wallace's shortest story that canonizes its place in his body of work. The second reason I chose this book is actually the key one. I'm pretty ambivalent. In the novel's world, each year is subsidized by a specific corporate sponsor for tax revenue. One hint is him and view spoiler [Don Gately digging up Hal's father's head from his grave for some reason; they have met at the hospital, where Don was recovering from being shot hide spoiler ]. February 10, I'd say it was a good companion but I'd suggest buying it used. Hering, David. The main character of the book is a tennis and lexical prodigy, who is also addicted to marijuana rosin. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Hysterical realism metamodernism satire tragicomedy post-postmodernism encyclopedic novel. Average rating 3. In this comprehensively revised second edition, Burn maps Wallace's influence on contemporary American fiction, outlines Wallace's poetics, and provides a full-length study of the novel, drawing out the most important themes and ideas, before surveying Wallace's post-Infinite Jest output, including The Pale King. As its title implies, the novel is in part based on the play Hamlet. About Stephen J. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. In Scott called Infinite Jest an "enormous, zeitgeist-gobbling novel that set his generation's benchmark for literary ambition" and Wallace "the best mind of his generation. That David Foster Wallace was a brilliant young writer. Best of all, it is a quick read--it would probably fill about 20 pages in the formatting of Infinite Jest. David Foster Wallaces Infinite Jest: A Readers Guide Writer For fuck's sake. Numerology; underlying mythical symbolism; post-postmodernism which would turn EUP into a pre-post-postmodernist essay, I guess [? This was a useful "unpacking" that I read immediately after finishing Infinite Jest. Paperback , 96 pages. Retrieved August 20, September 21, You can get a pretty good idea, I think, of what happens". Goerlandt, Iannis. Stephen Burn's attempt to provide such guidance is a spirited one, not least because he refuses to match the voluminosity of his source material. Continuum Contemporaries. This is the reading guide. Enlarge cover. Use a guide, partially to introduce you to the work, and then mostly to help answer questions. Although the narrative is fragmented and spans several "named" years, most of the story takes place during "The Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment " Y. Burn's style is straightforward - informative, without being stuffy or condescending. Jeffrey Hunter. This, while providing some good insights such as the parallel between Heracles and his twelve tasks, and Gately's twelve steps in AA , also goes overboardmost notably in the digression on Wallace's supposed "invocation of the genome" in this short story. A good place to start and decide if you really want to take the plunge into the novel. Infinite Jest has been hailed as one the great modern American novels and its author, David Foster Wallace, who committed suicide in , as one of the most influential and innovative authors of the past 20 years. He was interviewed in national magazines and went on a city book tour. It was definitely worth it. Furthermore, an epilogue has been added, containing brief discussions of the books by Wallace that have been published since Infinite Jest. I haven't read the new edition. While each of the characters act individually in their localized environment, their individual actions have multiple connections to lives and narratives beyond their comprehension. Retrieved February 6, Open Preview See a Problem? This change is less compelling since the section seems somewhat out of place in a book that advertises itself as a guide to Wallace's magnum opus and not as a survey of his oeuvre as a whole. If not, just forget this book. I appreciated a lot of the background that I didn't previously know and some of the analysis, but some of the references attributed to DFW really seem unlikely. Bartlett, Christopher. Saturday, 14 July Infinite Jest. Only one miner's son ever disgracefully failed to jump—Bernard Wayne, who may be related to E. As its title implies, the novel is in part based on the play Hamlet. Want to Read saving…. The years of Subsidized Time are:. I think when I first put it on a hold, I was still completely confused about Infinite Jest; by the time this book finally came in I wasn't so confused, so reading it did nothing but open up a whole lot of ideas. Association for Computational Linguistics. Infinite Jest is a postmodern encyclopedic novel , famous for its length and detail and for its digressions that involve endnotes some of which themselves have footnotes. Retrieved It made him want to be a writer. The big problem with this lit crit is that most of it is filler. Retrieved March 26, Worth a s I never thought there would be such a thing as too much information on Infinite Jest, and yet, here it is. The grave-diggers' scene". The Iowa Review. David Foster Wallaces Infinite Jest: A Readers Guide Reviews He completed it during a period of sobriety that was insisted upon by its lead actress, Joelle Van Dyne. Bartlett, Christopher. What I gained more from reading this book: - the role of tv in this books not of This is the reading guide. The Quebecois separatists seek a master, redistributable copy of the work to aid in acts of terrorism against the United States. Although this reader's guide might have been useful to have while I was reading IJ, I'm not sorry I didn't have it. Don DeLillo called Infinite Jest a "three-stage rocket to the future," a work "equal to the huge, babbling spin-out sweep of contemporary life," while Time Magazine included Infinite Jest on its list of Greatest Novels published between You've either read Infinite Jest or not. If there is a contemporary American novel that warrants a 'reader's guide', David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest is an obvious contender. The sections that clarify the chronology and make connections between different parts of the book many several hundred pages apart are very useful and helped clarify my understanding of Wallace's novel plot, connections between characters and events, allusions to other works, such as Ulysses and Hamlet, etc. Other Editions 5. I appreciated a lot of the background that I didn't previously know and some of the analysis, but some of the references attributed to DFW really seem unlikely. Visit the Australia site Continue on UK site. Some early reviews, such as Michiko Kakutani 's in The New York Times , were mixed, recognizing the inventiveness of the writing but criticizing the length and plot. He obviously admires the book a lot, but it's not the unquestioning admiration of a fanboy. Infinite Jest is a postmodern encyclopedic novel , famous for its length and detail and for its digressions that involve endnotes some of which themselves have footnotes. DFW read a book that achieved what he considered the goal of literature, and it was done using this device. Rolling Stone. Stephen J. Wikiquote has quotations related to: Infinite Jest. View 2 comments. Given what he achieves in the The novel. If anything, this resulted in a bunch of additions to my to-read pile. Grand Street. I also feel like I'm learning way more than I could ever possibly hope to learn about topics like: lenses, rehab, bizarre physical ailments, addiction and tennis. It is described as structured like the human brain. First, the importance of literature is that it makes you for a moment feel less alone. July 31, Harper's Magazine. Source Citation Henneber, Julian. If you're thinking about reading Infinite Jest, put aside three months and do it; if you've read it and w I waited two months for this book to be available at the library, so I really had high hopes for it. The book has a couple old web references-want to visit an Angelfire site? David Foster Wallaces Infinite Jest: A Readers Guide Read Online If you're thinking about reading Infinite Jest, put aside three months and do it; if you've read it and w I waited two months for this book to be available at the library, so I really had high hopes for it. Also, I sometimes hate it. Download as PDF Printable version. Author: Julian Henneber. DFW read a book that achieved what he considered the goal of literature, and it was done using this device.