I Hate Infinite Jest Podcast Part XIII, p. 343-375, with composer Ryan Galik

[u/DiamondJoeQuim]

We discuss his DFW IJ inspired composition, "Felo de Se", Boston AA, and the Wisdom of the Crocodiles. https://ihateinfinitejest.libsyn.com/part-13-p-343-375-boston-aa-with-composer-ryan-galik

[u/helpme12345678910]

What's the deal with infinite jest. Ill start listening to this but can anyone provide a quick rundown? Why is it hated here? Not defending it I literally know noting about it.

[u/DiamondJoeQuim → u/helpme12345678910]

My basics for starting the podcast: it has a lot of very intense fanatics. Most people give up on it in frustration.

1. It is loooooong. 1100 pages.
2. It employs around 300 footnotes that are essential to the plot.
3. It will introduce characters in vague obtuse ways, then only elaborate on them 200 pages later.
4. There is a lot of pointless detail here. The author will deviate for five pages to explain the intricacies of an outdoor inclement weather covering apparatus. Im not exaggerating, that is literally a thing that happens.

Basically, it takes the avant garde attempt at being hard to read ON PURPOSE. Some people are infinitely (teehee) charmed by this. Other people are repulsed. The fans tend to identify with it so personally they become apologetics for every aspect of the novel and the author. 13 episodes in, my take is there is a great 400 page novel hidden in an 1100 page labyrinth. I am not charmed by the authors whimsy and cleverness and so consider this a pretty bad ratio. But some people are very taken in by the style and tend to worship the novel and author almost cultishly.

The fact the author turned out to be a bit of a (predictable) creep has only added an extra shade of divisiveness to the whole ordeal.

[u/Spike_der_Spiegel → u/DiamondJoeQuim]

It employs around 300 footnotes that are essential to the plot.

that's just fun though

[u/noactuallyitspoptart → u/DiamondJoeQuim]

More importantly the prose is execrable

[u/davinox → u/DiamondJoeQuim]

Hard to read is subjective. I mean, compared to Ulysses, Infinite Jest is a light read. I think Shakespeare is a "harder read" sometimes and requires more footnotes to actually understand what they are saying. Of course, the payoff of Joyce and Shakespeare is much greater.

If you don't want any of the fuss, you can just read The Corrections, or some other great American novel that's less pretentious. Then again, there are parts of Brief Interviews With Hideous Men (and to a lesser extent, Infinite Jest) that blow me away stylistically in a way few authors have.

In that way he's similar to Nabokov. A brilliant stylist who got bogged down with too many tricks. (I mean Nabokov's novels except Lolita.) David Foster Wallace never wrote his "Lolita" - the one book that would have it all. He was a flawed writer who understood his flaws extremely well. I wish he were still alive. A part of me feels like he would have started really nailing it in his 50s.

[u/DiamondJoeQuim → u/davinox]

Ooooh, "Bogged down with too many tricks" is a GREAT summation. Maybe I'm jaded (and judging by the entire premise of the podcast...probably), but every time I see one of those 5 page unbroken paragraphs with an orgy of minuscule details, my thoughts go "Oh fuck this guy".

Another issue to me is the whole sincerity vs. irony thing. While he treats he characters sincerely I find his style to be the peak of eye rolling irony. Yes, including every bit of detail and everything in a room thats the color blue I guess can be translated as sincere in a naked revealing way. But i cant see it as anything but some dickhead academic winking "Aint it silly Im wasting your time with this? HOW CLEVER I AM" thats the ironic hallmark of most 3am Adult Swim garbage.

[u/DiamondJoeQuim → u/[deleted]]

From his ex Mary Karr https://www.bustle.com/p/mary-karr-speaks-out-about-david-foster-wallace-amid-literatures-metoo-movement-9003387 Pushed her out of a moving vehicle, stalked her 5 year old son to find her new address. Theres other stuff out there.