23 June 2009
Infinite Jest; David Foster Wallace
Decided on Friday to join Infinite Summer for the next three months and re-read Infinite Jest. I had read it once before beginning in October 2002. This was in the middle of the three-year vow to get back to reading and read at least one book a month. I'll assume for many subsequent months, those books were read in parallel. I hessitated to join the, now large, online reading group for all the reasons others had: intimidated, afraid of commitment, etc. At 55 pages in, I have no regrets and am somewhat obsessed with the book. Much easier the second time through.
Some links of note:
- Daily discussion boards from Infinite Summer, no spoilers!
- Twitter search for #infsum
- While talking about The Pale King, DFW's unfinished novel to be published next year, Kottke links to two excerpts from The New Yorker: Good People from February 2007 and Wiggle Room from March 9th of this year. The Wikipedia entry for The Pale King links to a PDF, published by Harper's, of a section titled The Compliance Branch.
Misc.: Taking advice from someone's Twitpiced book to use two bookmarks: one for the story proper and one for the footnotes. Many west-coasters were having a difficult time finding a copy! There's some new edition out, but it's not so new that IS could be pegged as a (decidedly weird) publicity stunt. I have no idea where I got my copy in 2002; it's from a UK division of Little, Brown, and Co. called Abacus. Every blurb on the cover is from a different British publication.
[ updated 14 August 2009 ]
Found an obit over at IFC. Contains links to many of DFW's writings available online.
Infinite Jest; David Foster Wallace
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