Infinite Jest
Infinite Jest
1996
My favourite book of all time and the very reason this site exists. Read it.
David Foster Wallace's first novel, The Broom of the System, earned comparisons with the work of John Irving, Thomas Pynchon, and Tom Robbins. But no comparison could prepare us for what is surely one of the most original and adventurous novels of the decade: Infinite Jest.
Infinite Jest is the name of a movie said to be so entertaining that anyone who watches it loses all desire to do anything but watch. People die happily, viewing it in endless repetition. The novel Infinite Jest is the story of this addictive entertainment, and in particular how it affects a Boston halfway house for recovering addicts and a nearby tennis academy, whose students have many budding addictions of their own. as the novel unfolds, various individuals, organisations, and governments vie to obtain the master copy of Infinite Jest for their own ends, and the denizens of the tennis school and halfway house are caught up in increasingly desperate efforts to control the movie -as is a cast including burglars, transvestite muggers, scam artists, medical professionals, pro football stars, bookies, drug addicts both active and recovering, film students, political assassins, and one of the most endearingly messed-up families ever captured in a novel.
On this outrageous frame hangs an exploration of essential questions about what entertainment is, and why it has come to so dominate our lives; about how our desire for entertainment interacts with our need to connect with other humans; and about what the pleasures we choose say about who we are. Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, Infinite Jest bends every rule of fiction without sacrificing for a moment its own entertainment value. The huge cast and multilevel narrative serve a story that accelerates to a breathtaking, heartbreaking, unforgettable conclusion. It is an exuberant, uniquely American exploration of the passions that make us human- and one of those rare books that renew the very idea of what a novel can do. 
1996 Little Brown Hardback
Infinite Jest Reading Resources:
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Check out the Notes and Speculations on IJ page. Note: There are spoliers.
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The Howling Fantods IJ Thesis Page. Many Theses submitted to this website for the benefit of the web community.
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Tim Ware's fantastic Online IJ Index. Yes, an INDEX to IJ! (This is the mirror at Steve Russillo's site)
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Another very useful page is Steve's IJ 'chapter' reference and reverse footnote index page. (Circa late 90's)
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Small Demons IJ index. (Registration required)
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The James O. Incandenza Online filmography. (Typed version of the endnote, easy to read and thus searchable).
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An Online Character Index to IJ (recovered via archive.org). Note: Spoiler text between the *** sections can be read by highlighting with the mouse.
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Matt Bucher's IJ Character Profiles. Great reading with some insightful info.
- Plot Symmetry diagram by Jake Bittle.
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Another character flowchart.
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Dan Schmidt's Notes on IJ. Fantastic!
- Aaron Schwartz's, What Happens at the End of Infinite Jest? (or, the Infinite Jest ending explained) [I don't agree with all of this. Particularly the DMZ explanation - it is also possible, and there is evidence for, marijuana withdrawal being a reason too. - Nick)
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Amy Buglass' Photos of Enfield and ETA. (Broken - sorry) Taken during a class trip, some food for thought here!
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Danielle Dreilinger and Javier Zarracina's Boston's Infinite Jest A David Foster Wallace memorial tour.
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Flikr sets, Infinite Jest Tour of Boston and Infinite Jest on Location. (Thanks for the reminder, Jim) Plotted on a map.
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ETA grounds from Elegant Complexity has a much better drawing. (Old, original Wallace-l post )
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A discussion of Dubious Maths in IJ.
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Read about the differences between The first draft of IJ and the published version in this essay by Steven Moore.
- Paul Debraski's What didn’t make Infinite Jest.
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The Lectern's Notes and Errata
- TV Tropes in Infinite Jest
Web Links:
- Slate Audio Bookclub on Infinite Jest **warning many plot spoilers**
- Infinite Jest 17 page extract in plain text form.
- A review and discussion of IJ over at Zaphod Industries.
- The Wallace Touch from www.citypaper.net written March 1997.
- Tome of the Times Guardian Lit Review of IJ.
- Matt's Essay Two Months in Infinite Jest. Feb 99 Cached Google Link
- HMR Book Review Broken Link
- Jr. (Stanford's Student Magazine) Review Broken Link
- Time Magazine Review/Article "Mad Maximalism" (Feb 1996) Broken Link
- Minnesota Daily Review (NEW)
- Boston Book Review
- Here is an old review of Infinite Jest I just found from The College Hall Independent Broken Link
- The ancient Salon IJ message board
- A review of Infinite Jest at Ed's Internet Book Review Broken Link
- Sven Birkerts's review from the February 1996 issue of The Atlantic Monthly
- Newsweek review from (2.12.96) by David Gates
- Newsday review (2.12.96) by Dan Cryer
- Michiko Kakutani's review from the New York Times (2.13.96)
- Chicago Tribune author profile from (2.23.96) by Mark Caro
- Review by Jay McInerney in the Sunday New York Times Book Review (3.6.96)
- Entertainment Weekly (Appeared in Who Weekly here in Aus. and made me laugh, a lot, at the reviewer.)
