Grace Cimpan’s Reviews > Infinite Jest > Status Update
Grace Cimpan
is on page 5 of 1079
Thoughts and prayers pls
Also—just an immediate observation that I am way too mentally exhausted right now to look up myself, but is Hal being named Hal a reference to the best character (totally unbiased opinion) in the Shakespeare canon?
— Jan 19, 2025 11:37PM
Also—just an immediate observation that I am way too mentally exhausted right now to look up myself, but is Hal being named Hal a reference to the best character (totally unbiased opinion) in the Shakespeare canon?
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Grace Cimpan
is on page 95 of 1079
Ok, not to expose how behind I am in this read but on page 95 is the line “Pemulis, who can stand about ten seconds of communal silence tops, clears his” unbolded for everyone or is my copy of the book just tweaking?
— Apr 06, 2025 11:40PM
Grace Cimpan
is on page 27 of 1079
This first scene(?) from YEAR OF THE DEPEND ADULT UNDERGARMENT—an actual masterclass in the stream of conscious writing style. 🙌
Watch out, Virginia Woolf.
— Jan 20, 2025 10:59PM
Watch out, Virginia Woolf.
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Jan 20, 2025 12:37AM
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Any connections to that particular character seem weak enough to be mostly irrelevant or coincidental. There are, however, other explanations for significance of the name which we can discuss when you've read through the book
Nah. Let me go through this whole book grasping for connections to my favorite Shakespearean prince smh
Let me have this one small joy.
I will not deprive you of your right to do so, but I will suggest maybe developing a crush on Hamlet instead
All jokes aside though, I don’t think Wallace chose the name “Hal” and didn’t consider the Prince Hal aspect. Hal and Hamlet have been compared and contrasted to one another for far too long in academia for this to be totally lost on Wallace. Even if he has different reasons for picking the name “Hal”, there has to be at least some small nod or irony at play here.
But, I'm also only on page 32 (which btw Hal has daddy issues? Omg that so Hal-coded), so what do I know?
You make fair points. I can't say I'm too familiar with Shakespear's Hal outside of the general thing about daddy issues. I'd definitely like to see if you pick up on anything along those lines
Nooo, Shakespeare’s Hal is so fire. 😭 Would highly recommend reading Richard II (for the political context), Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2 — I was extremely skeptical of Shakespeare’s title as the literary GOAT until I read those plays. But yes, I’ll let you know if I pick up on anything!
I'll try to get to it eventually but I have to start chipping away at the pile of unread books on my desk sometime soon
As someone with her own pile of unread books on her desk— fair lol
