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Infinite Jest: The Year of Glad (David Foster Wallace Lecture IV) (Patreon)

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2024-09-01 20:38:05
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Content

Today our journey through David Foster Wallace's sprawling Infinite Jest comes to a close. Or is it just the beginning? For many of us, the story will never end as we return to reread the work throughout our lives and discover endless new meanings.

We're discussing wraiths, rock bottom, addiction, recovery, the narratives of Hal Incandenza and Don Gately, what happens after the book ends, and much more.

Timestamps:

0:00 congratulations on reading Infinite Jest

2:00 David Foster Wallace on recovery

5:00 parodies of organisations & groups

7:00 quitting as abandoning all hope

9:00 the liberation of hitting rock bottom

10:00 etymology of the word ‘anonymous’

11:00 Hal at the Inner Infant meeting

14:00 a prompt towards The Pale King

15:00 grief indistinguishable from mirth

17:00 the value of humour in hard times

18:00 Don Gately fighting for his sobriety

19:00 the nature of addiction and relapse

22:00 map, territory & the eternal soul

23:00 Don Gately’s spiritual trauma

25:00 mystical near death experiences

27:00 from surreal satire to magical realism

29:00 the wraith of James Incandenza

32:00 Gately interfaces with the wraith

34:00 background actors in television

36:00 annular cycle of father-sons issues

37:00 why James Incandenza made the film

40:00 Gately dreams of Joelle as Death

42:00 symbolism of your next life’s mother

44:00 appreciating the heroism of Don Gately

46:00 Hal Incandenza’s first person narrative

48:00 Stice/the Darkness stuck to a window

50:00 do words really fail to communicate?

53:00 why Hal is a great unreliable narrator

54:00 James Incandenza possesses Ortho Stice

55:00 theory of Hal being dosed with DMZ

57:00 did Hal watch the fatal entertainment?

59:00 the son needs to become Himself

1:00:00 ‘It’ descends upon Hal Incandenza

1:03:00 an existential crisis of meaning

1:05:00 Don Gately wrestles with God

1:07:00 spiritual growth is incredibly painful

1:09:00 Hal & Gately dig up James’ skull

1:11:00 a state of emergency in this dystopia

1:12:00 Hamlet, poor Yorick & infinite jest

1:14:00 it is Too Late to get the Master Copy

1:16:00 Orin Incandenza trapped in a glass cage

1:20:00 on the very last line of the novel

1:24:00 thinking about the story beyond the story

1:25:00 discussing our exciting next big read

1:26:00 reading this novel chronologically

1:27:00 what did you make of Infinite Jest?

Resources to Explore:

  • Chronological Reading: If you are interested in rereading this great novel in chronological fashion, rather than the way David Foster Wallace has sequenced his narrative, then a lover of his works has put together a chronological reading guide here. Even if you aren't rereading the work anytime soon, you might find it interesting to look over this sequence as it can lead to some clarifying insights.

  • Music Appreciation: 'There is no music for free-floating misery like Tosca.' This is what Hal thinks as he listens to the protracted-death aria from Puccini's opera. You may like to mark your finishing of this novel joining Hal in listening to that here and here.

  • Cartridge Appreciation: If you're in the mood for some visual entertainment after reaching the end of this work, then why not put on Fritz Lang's 1927 film Metropolis? You can see the image that DFW wanted for the cover of his novel here. If a television show is more your thing, then Cheers would be a fitting watch. Of course, it might also feel appropriate to give Hamlet a rewatch.

  • More DFW: If reading Infinite Jest has stimulated your appetite for more of Dave's writing, then you might like to check out his first published novel The Broom of the System. I would also highly recommend his unfinished and posthumously published The Pale King.

  • Our Next Masterpiece: Congratulations on reading David Foster Wallace's challenging novel. Thank you so much for making this such an incredible experience. As discussed at the end of this talk, our next big read will be Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, with our 'how to read' video this weekend coming. So now would be a great time to secure your copy ready for our next adventure through great literature. After our Morrison introduction, we will also be kicking off our appreciation of Dante's Inferno, and alternating between these incredible works into the autumnal season.

Questions for You:

1) What will you remember most from your journey through Infinite Jest?

2) What did you make of the ending of this saga?

3) Will you reread this work or continue to explore DFW's works?

4) How would you persuade another to read Infinite Jest? And what advice would you give to facilitate a meaningful reading experience?

And please do share with us your impressions and favourite passages from the end of Infinite Jest.

Congratulations on reading Infinite Jest, everybody!

Files

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Comments

Andy D

One of the questions I had while reading the book was; if DFW is making a point about our addiction to mindless/shallow entertainment, why is everyone in IJ viewing these high-brow, arthouse type films laden with layered meanings, symbolism, irony etc… and not 2 second clips of cats falling off shelves? All of the characters seem to have a deep understanding and appreciation of these films too which is puzzling. It’s like an alternate universe populated by film studies students and is a world away from the kinds of things most people are addicted to watching nowadays. Is this just DFW indulging in a fantasy world where everyone consumes ‘difficult’ art? Is he poking fun at the arthouse genre? Or is this just another element of the book that went over my head?

Mike DiMartino

I got a couple weeks behind but finally finished! On the surface, Infinite Jest has many absurd elements which is why it's often labelled as a satire, but my lasting impression is one of horror. The genre eluded me until I realized it reads like a psychological horror novel. Wallace's portrayal of addiction as an inescapable cycle evokes Jack's addiction in The Shining. Poor Tony's withdrawal, Hal and Gately's inability to communicate, and the Wraith's appearance are terrifying, lending the work a supernatural twist reminiscent of gothic horror. The violence, sexual abuse, animal torture, James's microwave demise, and Stice's forehead being ripped off a frozen window are deeply disturbing. Considering David Foster Wallace's fate, one can only imagine the mental anguish he endured to produce such a work. Nevertheless, I'm glad I reread it; it will stay with me for a long time. My first reading in my 20s left me recalling the absurd plot elements: the search for the Entertainment, the espionage involving Marathe and Steeply, some of the Tennis Academy storyline, and the exhumation of James's skull. Now I realize these comprise a small portion of the novel, with the majority focused on the devastating personal and societal battle with addiction in its various forms. Wendell Berry once described sentences as "feelable thoughts." Extending this idea, one could say a novel is a "feelable experience." The predominant feelings I experienced were disgust and hopelessness. How would I persuade another to read Infinite Jest? While I've been unsuccessful in the past and doubt I could convince anyone now, I'd echo Tom Bissell's foreword: "It's an entertaining book that stingily withholds from readers the core pleasures of mainstream novelistic entertainment, among them a graspable central narrative line, identifiable movement through time, and any resolution of its quadrumvirate plotlines." If that sounds appealing, you're going to love this novel!

mariah schneider

I am relieved that I finally finished my first read through of Infinite Jest. I didn't want to leave two books in a row unfinished and I spent yesterday reading this last section which is faster than I had planned on. I wouldn't recommend that to anyone else, I had some nightmares that made me give up on sleeping. Also, I'm not sure I enjoyed reading IJ, but I did find it valuable. I would rank it as better than Gravity's Rainbow, which I'm not sure I could bring myself to reread. IJ I probably will tackle again. By the time I got to the end I wasn't really surprised that there were lots of questions that were left unanswered. I attempted to describe this book to someone who I know won't read it and I certainly didn't do it justice. As far as DFW's other works, I have enjoyed reading the essays from Consider the Lobster that I have gotten to. I only have two left, but they are the longer ones. I also have one of his other essay collections on my TBR bookcase. Maybe I'll try to finish those while we read Song of Solomon and Dante's Inferno. It might be easier to convince someone else to read IJ by having them start with one of DFW's shorter essays. As far as IJ itself, I would recommend they try to start by getting through a very doable page count, and the pages of end notes absolutely count towards it. Five to ten pages is a lot more manageable than 20 for this particular read.

Shelley Riden
>>149743723

You said: " I'm not sure I enjoyed reading IJ, but I did find it valuable. " My thoughts exactly. I'm on pg 827 - not finished yet - and I've come to the conclusion that while I have had some realizations - even epiphanies - I cannot say I've enjoyed the book. For one thing, my empathy response is raw and overwrought. The stories and descriptions in iJ are relentlessly ugly, and the humor is of a type that I find uncomfortable. I'll be relieved to have it under my belt.

Elisa Winter

1. It’s Sept 19th. I’m done. What a relief. The brutality was occasionally overwhelming. The language was overwhelming. The vignettes were overwhelming. The violence was overwhelming. Kind of like an LSD trip. Along with incredible moments of the most vulnerable and touching love (mostly Mario) also like an LSD trip. 2. David, I cannot thank you enough for pointing out the possible meanings of so many things I would never have thought. Maybe a third read is necessary now. Or maybe a decade from now. 3. Your explanations of possible connections and what might they might mean and what might have happened bounced me right back into the Twin Peaks zone that lives forever in my head. The word “Bob” still freaks me out a little. The weirdest weirdness that both repels me and also I still want to mull over from time to time. Good to fraternize with weirdness. Sometimes. 4. “And so but….” at the beginning of so many sentences and each time I read the phrase I noticed it. Like a mental stumble - took me out of the story because I noticed the phrase. Like Fleabag suddenly looking at you and breaking the 4th wall (or whatever number wall it is.) 5. And So But: “And”=the future, awaiting addition. “So”=the present, observing what is right now. “But”=the past (recollections to consider). That’s my thesis and I’m stickin’ to it. It’s the web of perceived time. It’s our Spider. Time is - we’re carried along by Time and we are powerless over it. There is no AA for it. Wow, great read - I have often suggested this book to people who I think might put in the effort and enjoy it. No one has taken me up on it! Silly them. Looking forward to Thus Spoke Zarathustra…..

Paul Hughes

I am now approaching the home stretch of Infinite Jest, panting and sweating internally like some overstretched marathon runner. While I do have a lot of reservations and criticisms of Infinite Jest and think it is woefully inadequate and disappointingly shallow (although a step in the right direction compared with the vast majority of modern authors) in tackling some of its subject matter, particularly in the realms of addiction recovery, spirituality and religion (something I have journaled about while reading quite extensively), I do also think, in a not dissimilar vein to how I view the writings of Nietzsche, there are enough great ideas in Infinite Jest to make parts of it worth internalising, reflecting upon fairly regularly and incorporating into my life and to make this a work worth returning to. I think it will be a while before I do a cover to cover re-read but I do think it’s worth breaking IJ down into smaller chunks on occasion in the interim. Beyond these lectures, which have been fantastic, can anyone recommend any particularly good secondary literature/ analyses/ lectures they have come across about IJ which have added to their reading experience?

David Fedesna
>>149304058

I had the same question. Not sure what it may say about me, but over the past 5 years or so I've been doing a study of film history., and strangely, have seen most every film referenced. Best that I can figure is that they commonly seem to show the alienation of an individual within a changing society. It's a theory. DFW obviously had a good knowledge of film. Would very much like to hear other's thoughts about this topic.

Carol Keller

This is my Goodreads review: I loved this giant, puzzle of a novel. Did I "get" it? yes and yet I'm sure no and it would stand up to a reread which you automatically must do immediately because the end is actually at the beginning. When I do reread it, I will check here and remember to print off a chronological order to the narrative. The writing does ramble around in 5 page paragraphs and the chemistry of drugs and you better not skip any of it because there's treasures buried. I genuinely loved how many new words I learned and another aspect I appreciate about David Foster Wallace is that he is a neologist. All my favorite people are. Has this book come in and out of your consciousness? Then it is calling and you absolutely should read it but I have no idea who I would actually recommend it to. My best advice is this: get help, watch videos about it, read it with a friend or in a book club.# It's long. Complicated. Brilliant. Funny. Insightful. All-consuming*. IJ gets as close to the interiority of being a human being as I can imagine any novel does. I want more. I want more DFW which is possible, up to a point, because sadly, he eliminated his map. # If you were to find such a bookclub join it. The clubbers will be interesting and probably loyal. If lucky, Don Gately might be there. Then invite me. JK I'm in one! But, it's exclusive on-line presence has me staring at little screens for uncomfortable amounts of time. * Unusual for me, it was the only book I read for about 2 months. It's all I wanted to do.

Denise Powers

I have just today finished Infinite Jest. I started it on time with the HLBC group and finished 6 weeks behind the pack. I read it loyally, (no other books luring me alongside), but it is a monster. I was anxiously gearing to the end. I can hardly keep track of what I have already read, and things that happened towards the beginning. I have struggled instensely with the graphic violence and the depravity (when I got to the scene near the end that involved two men and a razor blade, I covered one eye and screamed at the book "I can't keep doing this!" It has been difficult. What has saved this book for me were the lectures. While I was piecing together the threads as I got to the end, Benjamin's lectures have made this a meaningful experience for me. I admire this work - very much. But, I didn't love it. I look at how intricately it is pieced together, the grand themes that were presented, the heartbreak of DFW's intimacy with the pain, depression and addiction, and the bits of beauty interspersed in the chaos and violence, and still, I say: I don't know if I could do it again. I am looking forward to picking up "Far From the Madding Crowd" now, (and figure out how to squeeze in Song of Solomon, which I have been so looking forward to. Thank you, DFW for an incredible work. Thank you Benjamin for being such a steady guide through it and thanks to everyone who has commented along the way, keeping my spirits up that I was not alone in my disorientation and frequent disgust.

Eliza

These lectures on IF are some of the best I’ve ever heard in my life. Ben. You are the GOAT.

Terri Matter
>>149651322

Thank you Mike. Viewing this book as horror really brings it into perspective for me.

Samuel Thompson

John (No Relation) Wayne John (Non Responsive) Wayne🤯

Angelina

I finished last night, and then was compelled to start over, but only until page 79. It all clicks so beautifully now. No struggle at all. That is the best reward for me. The first chapter is so beautiful and it does an accomplished job at confusing you. I will definitely read some more DFW now. The last pages were hard to read. Too much violence. Not really what I like to read. This book is going to stay with me for a long time.