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Continuum Contemporaries
David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest: A Reader's Guide, 2nd Edition by Stephen J. Burn
Infinite Jest has been hailed as one the great modern American novels and its author, David Foster Wallace, who committed suicide in 2008, as one of the most influential and innovative authors of the past 20 years. 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 100 Greatest Novels published between 1923-2006. David Foster Wallace's Infinite A Reader's Guide was the first book to be published on the novel and is a key reference for those who wish to explore further. Infinite Jest has become an exemplar for difficulty in contemporary Fiction-its 1,079 pages full of verbal invention, oblique narration, and a scattered, nonlinear, chronology. 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.
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First published April 26, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
May 15, 2016
This is the reading guide. I have read from this series before, so I sort of know how it's sorted:
Talking about the author, about the book, book's reception, books performance, further reading, discussion questions, (here the unique chronology) and the bibliography.
(I only looked at the chronology part before I finished the book: I wanted to form my own observations and opinions about the book before this guide's.)
What I gained (more) from reading this book:
- the role of tv in this books (not of the Internet or phones of today, but since the book came out in 1996 it's understadable)
- the literature influences for Wallace and appearing this book (like Abbott's "Flatland", Frazer's "Golden Bough", and books by Gaddis, Pynchon, etc.)
- the chronology was built from the mention of Language Riots in notes section
- how the stories of the characters, the political polot and the race to get the film knot together, influence each other
- the scarce hints of what happened during the 'missing year' (between Hal's and his visit to the university in Arizona at the start of the book. (One hint is him and ).
- one major theme is the loss of identity, especially in Hal's case. His was pretty weak already in childhood, but being at the ETA (which values skills over identity in its teaching), being 'interpreted' by others, the drugs and all leave him the shell he is at the book's start - fine while playing tennis, a freaky-acting shell elsewhere, giving the university men the howling fantods and resulting in a hospital visit, again.
- the hints of Greek mythology (not just in what the reaction to the film is for the watchers)
- the theme of spiritual hollowness of life without belief. Wallace has said: "the stuff that's truly interesting about religion is inarticulable" (something that I've found recently in, for example, Richard Rohr's "Things Hidden" book).
- there's plenty of subtle meanings to be found in certain dates (including apocalyptic; the year the chronology ends is said to be the 'last year like this'... there's a slight sends of apocalypse looming near there)
In reaction to the book: there was fear of the size (when you have also to write a review and theres this book that's 1000+ pages *lol*), some reviewers missed or got wrong some details, and couldn't follow well. Of course this book got good and bad reviewers. It's clear even in the just reviewing that a good angle-approach is rather essential.
The book's performance: it got rather soon to the 'recognised as great' position (essays, longer writings and praises from other authors, even mentions in others' books).
Further reading means a bunch of internet links, valid when the guide was printed. The questions at the end are not easy, and are like 'write a long answer', non-book club sort. But interesting.
Now I want to read some Gaddis, Pynchon and the "Flatland" book. XD
But yes, pretty essential companion, that's what this book *is*. ;)
Talking about the author, about the book, book's reception, books performance, further reading, discussion questions, (here the unique chronology) and the bibliography.
(I only looked at the chronology part before I finished the book: I wanted to form my own observations and opinions about the book before this guide's.)
What I gained (more) from reading this book:
- the role of tv in this books (not of the Internet or phones of today, but since the book came out in 1996 it's understadable)
- the literature influences for Wallace and appearing this book (like Abbott's "Flatland", Frazer's "Golden Bough", and books by Gaddis, Pynchon, etc.)
- the chronology was built from the mention of Language Riots in notes section
- how the stories of the characters, the political polot and the race to get the film knot together, influence each other
- the scarce hints of what happened during the 'missing year' (between Hal's and his visit to the university in Arizona at the start of the book. (One hint is him and ).
- one major theme is the loss of identity, especially in Hal's case. His was pretty weak already in childhood, but being at the ETA (which values skills over identity in its teaching), being 'interpreted' by others, the drugs and all leave him the shell he is at the book's start - fine while playing tennis, a freaky-acting shell elsewhere, giving the university men the howling fantods and resulting in a hospital visit, again.
- the hints of Greek mythology (not just in what the reaction to the film is for the watchers)
- the theme of spiritual hollowness of life without belief. Wallace has said: "the stuff that's truly interesting about religion is inarticulable" (something that I've found recently in, for example, Richard Rohr's "Things Hidden" book).
- there's plenty of subtle meanings to be found in certain dates (including apocalyptic; the year the chronology ends is said to be the 'last year like this'... there's a slight sends of apocalypse looming near there)
In reaction to the book: there was fear of the size (when you have also to write a review and theres this book that's 1000+ pages *lol*), some reviewers missed or got wrong some details, and couldn't follow well. Of course this book got good and bad reviewers. It's clear even in the just reviewing that a good angle-approach is rather essential.
The book's performance: it got rather soon to the 'recognised as great' position (essays, longer writings and praises from other authors, even mentions in others' books).
Further reading means a bunch of internet links, valid when the guide was printed. The questions at the end are not easy, and are like 'write a long answer', non-book club sort. But interesting.
Now I want to read some Gaddis, Pynchon and the "Flatland" book. XD
But yes, pretty essential companion, that's what this book *is*. ;)
December 18, 2012
Intended for the general reader and not the Wallace scholar desperate to exhume every interred signifier from that most overindulged of overindulgent masterworks, Infinite Jest, Stephen Burn’s slight guide copes well with the restrictions imposed upon it by Continuum Books, whose embarrassing range of guides include books on such towering works as The Poisonwood Bible, Birdsong and Ian Rankin’s Black & Blue, for the love of G*tt. To be honest, this doesn’t help stir up my enthusiasm for a re-read of Infinite Jest (as intended)—it makes me more wary of the laboured satirical aspects of the novel and the relentlessness of Wallace’s (eventually tedious) style in the book (which is brilliant enough for a five-star rating but in danger of baccelerating into a four-star). Maybe one read is plenty?
Read
April 8, 2023The main/original essay on the novel is one of the most compelling arguments for reading IJ I’ve encountered.
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June 24, 2011Read this guide AFTER completing the book, or the guide will spoil many of DFW's delightful surprises.
Excellent summation of themes and plot - helped me make connections I missed the first time through INFINITE JEST on my own - Now I look forward to rereading the novel!
"...one of the obsessive themes of INFINITE JEST: the search for an adequate understanding of the self. This melancholy exploration, which is largely (but not entirely) focused on Hal, partly explains why Wallace chose HAMLET as one of the templates for his novel. HAMLET begins with the question 'who's there?,' and if Shakespeare's play answers this with an exemplary excavation of the consciousness of Renaissance man, then INFINITE JEST attempts a millennial update, cataloging the twentieth century's endless efforts to understand itself." pg. 39
".... While each of the characters act individually in their localized environment, their individual actions have multiple connections to lives and narratives beyond their comprehension. And their apparently random interactions tend to form large-scale patterns (and particularly circular patterns) in the novel. This movement from lower-level action to higher-level pattern is characteristic of emergent networks. As Steven Johnson, in his study EMERGENCE (2001), summarizes, an emergent system involves 'multiple agents dynamically interacting in multiple ways, following local rules and oblivious to higher-level instructions' with these interactions resulting 'in some kind of discernible macrobehavior' (p.19). In many ways this seems an apt description of INFINITE JEST's circular ordering, and it is not coincidental that this arrangement resembles the interconnected 'systems inside systems' of natural ecologies (p. 67)." pg. 54
Excellent summation of themes and plot - helped me make connections I missed the first time through INFINITE JEST on my own - Now I look forward to rereading the novel!
"...one of the obsessive themes of INFINITE JEST: the search for an adequate understanding of the self. This melancholy exploration, which is largely (but not entirely) focused on Hal, partly explains why Wallace chose HAMLET as one of the templates for his novel. HAMLET begins with the question 'who's there?,' and if Shakespeare's play answers this with an exemplary excavation of the consciousness of Renaissance man, then INFINITE JEST attempts a millennial update, cataloging the twentieth century's endless efforts to understand itself." pg. 39
".... While each of the characters act individually in their localized environment, their individual actions have multiple connections to lives and narratives beyond their comprehension. And their apparently random interactions tend to form large-scale patterns (and particularly circular patterns) in the novel. This movement from lower-level action to higher-level pattern is characteristic of emergent networks. As Steven Johnson, in his study EMERGENCE (2001), summarizes, an emergent system involves 'multiple agents dynamically interacting in multiple ways, following local rules and oblivious to higher-level instructions' with these interactions resulting 'in some kind of discernible macrobehavior' (p.19). In many ways this seems an apt description of INFINITE JEST's circular ordering, and it is not coincidental that this arrangement resembles the interconnected 'systems inside systems' of natural ecologies (p. 67)." pg. 54
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April 24, 2017A nice way to spend a sunday morning and revisit one of the greatest novels of recent decades.
March 20, 2017
As a companion guide to DFW's Infinite Jest, I suspect one can do better. Use a guide, partially to introduce you to the work, and then mostly to help answer questions. This one was just okay. 3.5 stars.
April 22, 2012
A cute little pocket sized thing, and fairly useful. It helped to clarify a few fuzzy thoughts I was having on Infinite Jest, particularly regarding its position on the modernist/postmodernist continuum (there is something apocalyptic and human and unironic about the novel that feels more modernist than postmodern to me, and Burn keys into that idea nicely). There's also some stuff in here I hadn't considered, particularly on mythic readings of IJ which I totally missed (I ALWAYS miss the mythic stuff, what's wrong with me?) but Burn definitely convinces me on this.
It's such a teeny guide, though, so there's a lot it can't do. The plot outline is kind of useful, but skims over or misses out SO MUCH STUFF that I found desperately significant - I think this is inevitable. And there's some tantalising ideas ('it's basically a religious novel') that are just, like, MORE HERE PLEASE. But that's no criticism of Burn, just a reflection of my current need to bury myself in IJ criticism and and obsess over What It All Means in great detail. It strikes me that I'd really like to read a fairly lengthy character-by-character study, which, I don't know if this exists, but it should. Particularly if it was alllll about Michael Pemulis, on whom I have a huge literary crush. ANYWAY.
It's such a teeny guide, though, so there's a lot it can't do. The plot outline is kind of useful, but skims over or misses out SO MUCH STUFF that I found desperately significant - I think this is inevitable. And there's some tantalising ideas ('it's basically a religious novel') that are just, like, MORE HERE PLEASE. But that's no criticism of Burn, just a reflection of my current need to bury myself in IJ criticism and and obsess over What It All Means in great detail. It strikes me that I'd really like to read a fairly lengthy character-by-character study, which, I don't know if this exists, but it should. Particularly if it was alllll about Michael Pemulis, on whom I have a huge literary crush. ANYWAY.
September 20, 2020
Как же хорошо, когда есть мудрый преподаватель литературы, внимательно изучивший “Бесконечную шутку” и заботливо разъяснивший скрытые смыслы и аллюзии таким как ты. Правда, толкование Шутки занимает всего половину книги, остальное — какой-то избыточный мамбл про поэтику ДФУ, его влияние на мир, внезапные рецензии и прочие дифирамбы. Но за восстановленную хронологию отдельное спасибо, это мощно.
December 31, 2019
A helpful overview of Infinite Jest with a little background on David Foster Wallace. A good place to start and decide if you really want to take the plunge into the novel.
March 24, 2010
Mainly what I learned from this book is that I wasn't paying enough attention when I completed my original reading of IJ. In particular, the very first section contains several passing references that are easily glossed over, but in fact turn out to be important links between the different plot threads.
Of course, it's still maddeningly difficult, because - though Stephen Burn makes a plausible case for several of the putative links he identifies, some are still purely speculative, as DFW left a lot of stuff deliberately ambiguous.
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. If nothing else, I was forced to work a little harder with the text.
But for anyone who made it all the way through IJ, this is definitely worth reading, and will offer some new perspectives. If it's any consolation, Stephen Burn makes a persuasive case that most of the major reviewers failed to notice details in the novel's construction that turn out to be pretty important.
Burn's style is straightforward - informative, without being stuffy or condescending. He obviously admires the book a lot, but it's not the unquestioning admiration of a fanboy. Which is a good thing.
Of course, it's still maddeningly difficult, because - though Stephen Burn makes a plausible case for several of the putative links he identifies, some are still purely speculative, as DFW left a lot of stuff deliberately ambiguous.
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. If nothing else, I was forced to work a little harder with the text.
But for anyone who made it all the way through IJ, this is definitely worth reading, and will offer some new perspectives. If it's any consolation, Stephen Burn makes a persuasive case that most of the major reviewers failed to notice details in the novel's construction that turn out to be pretty important.
Burn's style is straightforward - informative, without being stuffy or condescending. He obviously admires the book a lot, but it's not the unquestioning admiration of a fanboy. Which is a good thing.
June 6, 2020
You've either read Infinite Jest or not. If so, there are some parts that helps you to understand the work better (e.g. the chronology). If not, just forget this book. Regardless, I think
A Reader's Companion to Infinite Jest
and online sources are much more helpful for a new reader, and
Elegant Complexity
is much more thoughtful for exploring themes and forms of the book.
P.S. I haven't read the new edition.
P.S. I haven't read the new edition.
June 9, 2017
Content wise I would give this book three stars. There is some good analysis in the essays, but it is far from a "how to" guide. The discussion on the cartridge was probably the most valuable. I'm most surprised the wraith wasn't discussed in detail.
The chronology in the end bumped up my score because it is especially helpful.
The chronology in the end bumped up my score because it is especially helpful.
December 23, 2014
I didn't really get much from this. There are much better guides available online.
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April 13, 2025Definitely helped me clarify some questions I had on the chronology/overarching significance of certain plot points/authorial decisions!! Considering April Fool’s Day is one of my favorite holidays, I can’t believe how integral that date is to the novel……need to go reread
May 11, 2020
I much needed aid as I slowly make my way through IJ.
August 17, 2023
El libro más esclarecedor que he leído para esclarecer, a su vez, 'La broma infinita'.
September 1, 2024
The background of DFW and reception was interesting, could have skipped the actual analysis of the book in my opinion. The most useful part of this was the chronological timeline at the end.
November 22, 2016
This is not a book to open along with your first reading of "Infinite Jest." Maybe not even with your second. Is that pretentious? All I know is I appreciated it a lot but only after I'd read and re-read "Infinite Jest" enough to be familiar with the text without having it at hand. This book is for serious English scholars and Wallace junkies (like me) who can't get "Infinite Jest" out of their heads. This is the academic examination that I've always felt "Infinite Jest" deserves, a blend of rabid fandom and weighty criticism. Be forewarned, though: it really helps to have read more of Wallace's other works (plus Pynchon and Joyce and Dickens and many more) since the author refers to them for support or comparison quite often.
3.5 stars out of 5. The analysis of "Infinite Jest" is superb and thought-provoking, but a good third of the text is devoted to Wallace's other books. Nothing wrong with that, to be sure, as it helps to place the author and IJ into a broader context, but critiquing those other works was not the reason I picked up this guide.
3.5 stars out of 5. The analysis of "Infinite Jest" is superb and thought-provoking, but a good third of the text is devoted to Wallace's other books. Nothing wrong with that, to be sure, as it helps to place the author and IJ into a broader context, but critiquing those other works was not the reason I picked up this guide.
February 19, 2009
I waited two months for this book to be available at the library, so I really had high hopes for it. Now that I've finished it, I'm not sure if it was really worth all the excitement. 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.
If you're thinking about reading Infinite Jest, put aside three months and do it; if you've read it and want to get an idea of where it fits in a larger historical picture, read this book. Ultimately, though, I feel like this book was just a very long thesis - maybe for graduate work, but not much better.
I'm giving it four stars because the guy put in the leg work and hell, if you've read the 1100 pages of Infinite Jest you can knock out another hundred on this guy. But I've gotta say... I'm pretty ambivalent.
If you're thinking about reading Infinite Jest, put aside three months and do it; if you've read it and want to get an idea of where it fits in a larger historical picture, read this book. Ultimately, though, I feel like this book was just a very long thesis - maybe for graduate work, but not much better.
I'm giving it four stars because the guy put in the leg work and hell, if you've read the 1100 pages of Infinite Jest you can knock out another hundred on this guy. But I've gotta say... I'm pretty ambivalent.
October 28, 2007
This came out *just* after I re-read IJ. Had I known this one was on the way, I might have postponed that reading.
This is a surprisingly helpful little books. Despite having read IJ a couple of times, given it some thought, and had some discussions about the book, there were a few major insights here that I'd never considered.
I got the impression that Burn could have written a much longer book, in which he considered a broader range of themes, but he was constrained by the "Continuum Contemporaries" format. And while the editors of that series were correct to apprehend a market for such a book (ie, a thin volume meant to make IJ accessible to more readers), I'd maintain that there's a market for longer, more serious book, something like the equivalent of Stuart Gilbert's commentary on Ulysses.
Now if I can just get my copy of this book back into my hands...
This is a surprisingly helpful little books. Despite having read IJ a couple of times, given it some thought, and had some discussions about the book, there were a few major insights here that I'd never considered.
I got the impression that Burn could have written a much longer book, in which he considered a broader range of themes, but he was constrained by the "Continuum Contemporaries" format. And while the editors of that series were correct to apprehend a market for such a book (ie, a thin volume meant to make IJ accessible to more readers), I'd maintain that there's a market for longer, more serious book, something like the equivalent of Stuart Gilbert's commentary on Ulysses.
Now if I can just get my copy of this book back into my hands...
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May 27, 2011I'm working on a paper on DFW and so I thought I should take a look at a bit of standard scholarship. I was bracing myself for the sort of assembly line style thinking-other-men's-thoughts-and-turning-them-to-dust that anything subtitled "A Reader's Guide" leads one to expect, but this was actually quite good.
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 Wallace's aim of trying to escape the post-modern trap and point toward a way of being "an f-ing human being."
Burn even realizes that IJ is a "basically... religious book" (p. 60), though he doesn't explore the implications of that very much.
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 Wallace's aim of trying to escape the post-modern trap and point toward a way of being "an f-ing human being."
Burn even realizes that IJ is a "basically... religious book" (p. 60), though he doesn't explore the implications of that very much.
June 28, 2020
I'm trying to go through two thousand+ page novels this year, so the Infinite Jest re-read will have to wait. But for a quick brush up on my IJ, this would do.
(do I have to mention it? DO NOT pick this up if you haven't read IJ)
The "guide" part of the book consists of a handy timeline, with the three main storylines laid out (as far as they'd allow it). The surrounding analysis and criticism is interesting albeit incipient (compared to what I'm used to hearing on the Great Concavity podcast)---the main thesis being a "centrifugal" reading of Wallace, one that reaches out to external references instead of looking inward. If anything, this resulted in a bunch of additions to my to-read pile.
A favourite technique of Burn's for making external connections seems to be numerology. 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 overboard---most notably in the digression on Wallace's supposed "invocation of the genome" in this short story. Burn's contextualisation of the story was rich enough without having to invent genomic invocations. And no, I won't explain his reasoning here; I *dare* you to discover it yourself, hah.
(do I have to mention it? DO NOT pick this up if you haven't read IJ)
The "guide" part of the book consists of a handy timeline, with the three main storylines laid out (as far as they'd allow it). The surrounding analysis and criticism is interesting albeit incipient (compared to what I'm used to hearing on the Great Concavity podcast)---the main thesis being a "centrifugal" reading of Wallace, one that reaches out to external references instead of looking inward. If anything, this resulted in a bunch of additions to my to-read pile.
A favourite technique of Burn's for making external connections seems to be numerology. 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 overboard---most notably in the digression on Wallace's supposed "invocation of the genome" in this short story. Burn's contextualisation of the story was rich enough without having to invent genomic invocations. And no, I won't explain his reasoning here; I *dare* you to discover it yourself, hah.
September 5, 2021
I'm not really sure who this is for. I suppose it's helpful for people who are trying to sort out the chronology of what actually happens in Infinite Jest, but, then the internet exists and there are numerous websites to help you out with that. Only a small fraction of the reader's guide is actually about IJ, and its content. The other essays are about DFWs place in the history of encyclopedic novels, an attempt to make some sort of accord with his prose style by examining his shortest story, and a couple brief reviews of his later works. Burns certainly knows a lot about DFW, but his essays range from "this is somewhat interesting" to "oh Jesus, this is overreaching."
I'm also not really sure what I expected. I tend to like academic writing, but Burn's examinations seem to be hyper specific to the point where most of Infinite Jest's major themes aren't even touched upon. He has nothing to really say about addiction for instance, and while he almost completely skips Hamlet, he does go way into the Greek myths.
I guess if I'm being honest, I read this book because I really wanted to re-read Infinite Jest but was too lazy to dive back in. I thought by dipping back into the world via a critical lens, I would be able to get back some of that powerful buzz the book had originally given me. Instead, it made me question why I even liked the novel in the first place, which can't be Burn's intention here, which, ya know, hence the one star.
I'm also not really sure what I expected. I tend to like academic writing, but Burn's examinations seem to be hyper specific to the point where most of Infinite Jest's major themes aren't even touched upon. He has nothing to really say about addiction for instance, and while he almost completely skips Hamlet, he does go way into the Greek myths.
I guess if I'm being honest, I read this book because I really wanted to re-read Infinite Jest but was too lazy to dive back in. I thought by dipping back into the world via a critical lens, I would be able to get back some of that powerful buzz the book had originally given me. Instead, it made me question why I even liked the novel in the first place, which can't be Burn's intention here, which, ya know, hence the one star.
November 8, 2025
I had heard how difficult it is to read David Foster Wallace’s mammoth “Infinite Jest” and figured I needed all the help I could get. Stephen Burn’s Reader’s Guide provides background information about David Foster Wallace and about several of his works. The most helpful part of the Reader’s Guide was the "Chronology of Infinite Jest" section found in the Appendix.
I am about halfway through the 1000+ page Infinite Jest and have been using the Annotations and Storyboards available on the Infinite Jest Wiki: infinitejest.wallacewiki.com. I am actually enjoying the novel, thanks to all of these available online resources to help make sense of what is going on.
Infinite Jest presents several challenges to the reader. The story is nonlinear with constant jumps in time. There are tons of characters to keep track of, a lot of them don’t initially seem that relevant to the plot. Wallace does not make it easier on the reader with abrupt changes of scene and long sprawling text. You have to be somewhat of a detective in paying close attention to details that later might have an important relevance to the story.
This Reader’s Guide is more geared to understanding Wallace and his works in general. I am glad I read it, although it feels more like a high-brow literary critique of Wallace rather than an actual guide to help the everyday reader get through the challenge of understanding Infinite Jest.
I am about halfway through the 1000+ page Infinite Jest and have been using the Annotations and Storyboards available on the Infinite Jest Wiki: infinitejest.wallacewiki.com. I am actually enjoying the novel, thanks to all of these available online resources to help make sense of what is going on.
Infinite Jest presents several challenges to the reader. The story is nonlinear with constant jumps in time. There are tons of characters to keep track of, a lot of them don’t initially seem that relevant to the plot. Wallace does not make it easier on the reader with abrupt changes of scene and long sprawling text. You have to be somewhat of a detective in paying close attention to details that later might have an important relevance to the story.
This Reader’s Guide is more geared to understanding Wallace and his works in general. I am glad I read it, although it feels more like a high-brow literary critique of Wallace rather than an actual guide to help the everyday reader get through the challenge of understanding Infinite Jest.
November 2, 2020
Much of the pleasure reading Infinite Jest is putting the puzzle of its structure and timeline together so my strong recommendation is to not read this until you've read through IJ once because that's a focus of this reader's guide: describing the structure and the chronology. The other big chunk of the analysis is teasing out some of the themes and allusions, so if you like to do that yourself the first time through, come to this book second. Burn provides a lot of context around the novel with chapters on Wallace's poetics, reviews of books DFW published after IF, and a discussion of some writers who've been influenced by DFW. Good guide to have for re-reading and digging deeper into studying IF.
June 12, 2020
A reader’s guide to Infinite Jest with not enough analysis on Infinite Jest. I’m sure this serves a purpose in the critical essay world to examine all of DFW’s writing and also set it up as substantive work of literature by finding the connections to Greek Mythology, but I wanted a focus on the novel itself and this is not that. There are pieces that give good insight and even Burns makes the point that a comprehensive look at IJ would be so large that it would defeat the purpose and admits this is only intended to be considered a start, it’s still not enough of a start.
September 16, 2017
Numerology; underlying mythical symbolism; post-postmodernism (which would turn EUP into a pre-post-postmodernist essay, I guess [?] - the possibilities are endless).
For fuck's sake.
(but IJ's chronology at the end deserves a not completely half-hearted 'atta boy'. Let's drink to that.)
For fuck's sake.
(but IJ's chronology at the end deserves a not completely half-hearted 'atta boy'. Let's drink to that.)
May 2, 2021
كتاب كويس فشخ بالنظر ل ١- حجمه ،٢- حجم الكتاب اللى بيناقشه. بالطبع اقرأ فخورا ببصيرتى الثاقبة فى فهم الاشياء و ان الكاتب متفق معى. و بالطبع اتذكر اورويل و هو يهدم اى فخر بأى بصيرة بأن الكتاب الجيد هو مايتفق مع ارائك . و بغض النظر عن بصيرتى من عدمها، الكتاب يعمل يشكل رائع لو قرأت الرواية فقط.
July 25, 2022
I read the second edition, which apparently differs significantly from the first. I thought it did an excellent job not only of summarizing Wallace’s oeuvre and preoccupations, but the major themes of the book itself. Really put it all together for me!
October 27, 2020
Literally a guide with some useful tools for reading IJ. Read it to accompany my second reading.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews