| “...most substance-addicted people are also addicted to thinking, meaning they have a compulsive and unhealthy relationship with their own thinking.” ― David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest |
A MODERN CLASSIC
Few novels have the cultural gravitational pull² of Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. Published in 1996, the 1,079-page labyrinth glides through junior tennis matches, turns inward to vulnerable addiction therapy sessions, and expands outwards across the American-midwest-vastness of mass media culture. It’s encyclopedic, hilarious, grotesque, tender, and at times can be intentionally disorienting (with its nearly 400 endnotes) — but it's not insurmountable.
Upon its debut, the novel's reception⁵ was quite mixed. While it achieved instant commercial success with 44,000 hardcovers sold, some tastemakers accused Wallace of imitating American author Thomas Pynchon³. Others claimed the author was merely using characters to show off his own intelligence. Many readers and reviewers were simply and understandably intimidated by the novel's half-a-million word count. But in the 30 years since, Infinite Jest's dystopian vision for a media-obsessed America was quite prophetic, cementing it as a modern literary classic. In 2005, TIME Magazine listed it on their Top 100 Books (from 1923 to 2005). Critics Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo write that Wallace's "decidedly secondary" dystopian setting and plot lines allow for his "painfully funny dialogue and" ... "endlessly rich ruminations⁴ and speculations on addiction, entertainment, art, life and, of course, tennis" to shine.
Set in the alternate-reality year 2009, the novel imagines an America that looks far less speculative today than Wallace probably intended. Its themes of entertainment and pleasure, depression and addiction, loneliness and meaning, and the ways we try and often fail to escape from ourselves is perhaps even more relevant today. Amid the novel's cast of political terrorists, tennis prodigies, and corporate sponsors, Infinite Jest transforms itself — a part-quirky comedy, part-tragic-character-study, and part-mythic chimera — into one of the longest and most earnest stories I've had the pleasure¹² of finishing.
The novel, I think, is also a one-thousand-page plea for help—for greater visibility and desperate support—not just for its maker, but for any reader¹⁶ who also feels sad, alone, and at times unfit for the times. Tragically, in 2008, after a long battle with depression and substance abuse, David Foster Wallace took his own life in his home in Claremont, California.
Upon its debut, the novel's reception⁵ was quite mixed. While it achieved instant commercial success with 44,000 hardcovers sold, some tastemakers accused Wallace of imitating American author Thomas Pynchon³. Others claimed the author was merely using characters to show off his own intelligence. Many readers and reviewers were simply and understandably intimidated by the novel's half-a-million word count. But in the 30 years since, Infinite Jest's dystopian vision for a media-obsessed America was quite prophetic, cementing it as a modern literary classic. In 2005, TIME Magazine listed it on their Top 100 Books (from 1923 to 2005). Critics Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo write that Wallace's "decidedly secondary" dystopian setting and plot lines allow for his "painfully funny dialogue and" ... "endlessly rich ruminations⁴ and speculations on addiction, entertainment, art, life and, of course, tennis" to shine.
Set in the alternate-reality year 2009, the novel imagines an America that looks far less speculative today than Wallace probably intended. Its themes of entertainment and pleasure, depression and addiction, loneliness and meaning, and the ways we try and often fail to escape from ourselves is perhaps even more relevant today. Amid the novel's cast of political terrorists, tennis prodigies, and corporate sponsors, Infinite Jest transforms itself — a part-quirky comedy, part-tragic-character-study, and part-mythic chimera — into one of the longest and most earnest stories I've had the pleasure¹² of finishing.
The novel, I think, is also a one-thousand-page plea for help—for greater visibility and desperate support—not just for its maker, but for any reader¹⁶ who also feels sad, alone, and at times unfit for the times. Tragically, in 2008, after a long battle with depression and substance abuse, David Foster Wallace took his own life in his home in Claremont, California.
| “Everybody is identical in their secret unspoken belief that way deep down they are different from everyone else.” ― David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest |
O.N.A.N.
Wallace sets Infinite Jest in a restructured North American mega-nation. The U.S., Canada, and Mexico have merged into O.N.A.N. — the Organization of North American Nations. The acronym is not subtle: “onanism” means self-pleasuring, and the book is quite literally about a society that has made pleasure its highest god. The new president, Johnny Gentle, is a germaphobic, former crooner who solves America’s waste problem by “gifting” Canada a massive toxic dump called 'The Great Concavity' (modern Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, etc.).
Time itself has been corporatized. Instead of the Gregorian calendar, companies sponsor entire years: The Year of the Whopper, The Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, The Year of the Trial-Size Dove Bar, The Year of the Perdue Wonderchicken, The Year of Glad, and so on. At the center of the novel is a forbidden film called Infinite Jest (referred by some as "The Entertainment"). It is a film so beautiful, pleasurable, and addictive that anyone who watches it loses all desire for anything else, eventually dying of dehydration or starvation while watching it.
Time itself has been corporatized. Instead of the Gregorian calendar, companies sponsor entire years: The Year of the Whopper, The Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, The Year of the Trial-Size Dove Bar, The Year of the Perdue Wonderchicken, The Year of Glad, and so on. At the center of the novel is a forbidden film called Infinite Jest (referred by some as "The Entertainment"). It is a film so beautiful, pleasurable, and addictive that anyone who watches it loses all desire for anything else, eventually dying of dehydration or starvation while watching it.
| “Fiction is one of the few experiences where loneliness can be both confronted and relieved. Drugs, movies where stuff blows up, loud parties — all these chase away loneliness by making me forget my name's Dave and I live in a one-by-one box of bone no other party can penetrate or know. Fiction, poetry, music, really deep serious sex, and, in various ways, religion — these are the places (for me) where loneliness is countenanced, stared down, transfigured, treated.” ― David Foster Wallace, 1996 interview in Elle |
THREE STORYLINES. ONE FILM.
Three plot-lines orbit this deadly piece of entertainment, Infinite Jest:
1. The Enfield Tennis Academy¹⁷: Hal Incandenza, an academic and tennis prodigy, struggles with addiction and communication. His father, James—a physicist turned avant-garde filmmaker—created both the academy and the film Infinite Jest. James dies by suicide in a grotesque scene that scars Hal’s childhood.
2. The Québecois Terrorists: They call it The Samizdat, echoing the underground dissident literature of the Soviet Union. They plan to unleash it on O.N.A.N. to cause mass hypnosis and social collapse. Counter-terrorism agents like Hugh Steeply try to stop them, while undercover operatives and double- (and quadruple-) agents weave through the novel like Kafkaesque spies who can’t tell if they’re surveilling or simply being watched.
3. Ennet House Recovery Center: The emotional core of the novel rests here, with Don Gately, a former burglar and Demerol addict, now trying to stay sober through AA and NA. His and his fellow addicts' stories are based heavily on Wallace’s own time in a recovery house. They ask the novel’s deepest questions about freedom and the meaning of our choices. Here we also meet Joelle Van Dyne, a radio host known as Madame Psychosis, and the actress starring in James Incandenza’s fatal film. She is so beautiful or so disfigured (Wallace keeps this ambiguous) that she wears a veil. She may be the film’s secret weapon...
While these three stories are not always told chronologically, they are nonetheless richly intertwined. The ending loops back to the beginning. You understand the story only by reading it like a spiral — forward and backward. And you must read the hilarious endnotes as they contain clues and answers.
1. The Enfield Tennis Academy¹⁷: Hal Incandenza, an academic and tennis prodigy, struggles with addiction and communication. His father, James—a physicist turned avant-garde filmmaker—created both the academy and the film Infinite Jest. James dies by suicide in a grotesque scene that scars Hal’s childhood.
2. The Québecois Terrorists: They call it The Samizdat, echoing the underground dissident literature of the Soviet Union. They plan to unleash it on O.N.A.N. to cause mass hypnosis and social collapse. Counter-terrorism agents like Hugh Steeply try to stop them, while undercover operatives and double- (and quadruple-) agents weave through the novel like Kafkaesque spies who can’t tell if they’re surveilling or simply being watched.
3. Ennet House Recovery Center: The emotional core of the novel rests here, with Don Gately, a former burglar and Demerol addict, now trying to stay sober through AA and NA. His and his fellow addicts' stories are based heavily on Wallace’s own time in a recovery house. They ask the novel’s deepest questions about freedom and the meaning of our choices. Here we also meet Joelle Van Dyne, a radio host known as Madame Psychosis, and the actress starring in James Incandenza’s fatal film. She is so beautiful or so disfigured (Wallace keeps this ambiguous) that she wears a veil. She may be the film’s secret weapon...
While these three stories are not always told chronologically, they are nonetheless richly intertwined. The ending loops back to the beginning. You understand the story only by reading it like a spiral — forward and backward. And you must read the hilarious endnotes as they contain clues and answers.
THE NOVEL'S UNIQUE STRUCTURE
Wallace famously said that he structured Infinite Jest as a Sierpiński triangle, a recursive fractal pattern that looks incomplete but is structurally whole. It's a novel made of absences, demanding you read backward and forward to make sense of its gaps. Wallace's intention was to train readers to be active participants: flipping to endnotes, stitching scenes together, and solving the story's puzzles. The physical act of reading the book also mirrors a tennis rally: back and forth momentum shifts; short-fast bursts followed by longer periods of rest. For example, there is a grammatically correct three-page sentence, and also a three-page footnote listing the filmography of James Incandenza. Wallace was an accomplished junior tennis player and originally from the American midwest. Throughout his works, there's a sense of vast, open, geometric¹⁴ and even elemental spaces, buildings, and characters.
CHOOSE MEANING OVER IDEOLOGY AND OVER PLEASURE — AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND ...
For all its cultural satire and political absurdity, Infinite Jest essentially is a story of broken humans longing for real connection—with themselves and others. The novel's lengthy and numerous recovery sessions, coached practices, and private moments of sobriety seem to all be there to sincerely share the heart of the novel: that you’re not as free as you think. Addiction is devotion gone amok. Real freedom begins with surrendering to one's limitations and seeking help from without. And meaning is found in choosing one's life purpose(s): family, academics, learning, sports, fitness, essentially anything that you can form healthy habit(s) around in order to enhance your life and other's lives. Purpose, for Wallace, excludes ideological and political obsession and, of course, addictive drugs. Both are false promises that lead to both physical and mental isolation, and eventually to personal and societal collapse. Wallace especially stresses that a healthy mind must live in a healthy body — the right food, drinks, medicines, and habitual exercise are as crucial as kicking the drug and quitting the cult.
| “To be, in a word, unborable.... It is the key to modern life. If you are immune to boredom, there is literally nothing you cannot accomplish.” ― David Foster Wallace, The Pale King |
READING IS MEDICINE
Wallace believed that books—through slow, demanding, private reading sessions and, perhaps also group discussions—were the antidote to the numbing speed of modern society's mass entertainment. Keep in mind that this novel was written decades before AI visuals, TikTok reels, algorithmic feeds, autoplay settings, personalized content, binge-watching as a cultural phenomenon, photo filters, and video face filters. But DFW was already weary of the deadly dopamine drip of constant novelty and variety.
Conversely, reading¹² teaches patience, attention, and introspection. In fact, Wallace made sections of Infinite Jest intentionally boring to force readers to practice stillness in a culture that hates it. And this book, unsurprisingly, is rich with references to great literature that explore similar themes:
Conversely, reading¹² teaches patience, attention, and introspection. In fact, Wallace made sections of Infinite Jest intentionally boring to force readers to practice stillness in a culture that hates it. And this book, unsurprisingly, is rich with references to great literature that explore similar themes:
- Hamlet: the title's origin; towards the finale of Shakespeare's tragedy, the Danish prince holds up the skull of Yorick, his father’s jester, a man of "infinite jest," asking it where are all of his jokes now; of a nearby lawyer’s skull, he asks where are his cases and work? Wallace's characters also ask, 'What’s the point of doing anything?' 'What gives life meaning?'
- The Brothers Karamazov: three brothers representing head/heart/body; perhaps Hal is Ivan, Orrin is Dimitri, and Mario is Alyosha.
- Franz Kafka: jokes and sorrow as twins; “We spend our lives looking for the door and when we find it, it opens outward because we’ve been inside what we wanted all along.” — DFW¹⁸
- Moby-Dick and Gravity’s Rainbow: American encyclopedic novels
WHAT IS UNSPOKEN
Wallace once said that “Great fiction gives us what we cannot say.” He was convinced that language, paradoxically, fails to completely describe let alone to grasp reality; space and silence contain truths that words cannot. Perhaps this view is best summed up again, by Hal Incandenza's spiritual forefather, Hamlet, who declares at the play's near-outset, “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." And yet, Hal's creator kept on speaking and writing; trying to reach us modern readers. He's certainly reached me. [JG]
JON'S ENDNOTES¹
{ 1 } JON'S ENDNOTES ... Of course, this blog post on Infinite Jest deserves to be my first ever with a series of endnotes.¹³ At the outset of this book blog (circa 2013), I would hyperlink blog posts (sparsely at first, more extensively later) in order to suggest connections between ideas and, of course, to encourage more online surfing and discovery, especially on mobile devices (70% of my blog's traffic is on smartphones).¹¹. In 2015, I began including a "Quotes I Loved" section at the bottom of each blog post. But these nuggets of wisdom and beauty become too detached in that format. By listing quote at the bottom of a blog post like food ingredients, I think their power is dimished. So, I've settled into a more single-serving style of blog post: a few quotes to read and that serve to concretize the body paragraph's points. Capped off by a "You May Also Like" section at the bottom to encourage discovery of similar and different authors.¹⁵
{ 2 } GRAVITATIONAL PULL ... Not just cultural gravitational pull but actual gravitation pull. The 2008 paperback version whose cover is at the top of this post and features the iconic tennis ball green text, cerulean sky, and fluffy white clouds, weighs an impressive 2.55 lbs (1.157 kg since 1 lb ≈ 0.4536 kg). {6}. Multiplying by standard gravitational acceleration (≈ 9.81 m/s² though this varies slightly with latitude and altitude in ways no casual reader genuinely cares about), the book exerts a downward force—its weight in physical terms—of about 11.35 newtons. Even heavier though is IJ's hardcover. It weighs an impressive-to-carry and potentially nose-breaking-to-drop-while-reading-in-bed 3.2 lbs (1.451 kg). Again, multiplying by Earth’s standard gravitational acceleration (9.81 m/s²), you get a downward force—its actual physical weight—of ≈ 14.22 newtons. Meaning: your 3.2 lb hardcover exerts on your palm roughly the same force as a large housecat’s paw pressing down on a very small button. Whether hardcover or paperback, its gravitational pull is not much by astrophysical standards, but certainly something your bookshelf must account for. I like these 6-shelf ones from Shintenchi.
{ 3 } THOMAS PYNCHON ... I don't really think DFW's IJ reads much like Thomas Pynchon's Gravity’s Rainbow. The latter is closer to James Joyce's Ulysses, I think, with its bending and breaking of grammar. In this way, I found IJ much more accessible than those two aforementioned (post)-modern⁷ novels.
{ 4 } "RUMINATIONS" ... The word "ruminations" when typed on my Weebly website editor gives me that scary red squiggly underline, suggesting that it's incorrectly spelled. However, it isn't. Ruminate; ru·mi·nate;ˈrü-mə-ˌnāt; transitive verb; Definition 1: to go over in the mind repeatedly and often casually or slowly; Ex: "…ruminating on the benefits of upgrading my Google Chrome browser from version 140.0.7339.213 to version 140.0.7339.214.; Definition 2: to chew repeatedly for an extended period.
{ 5 } RECEPTION ... Apparently, DFW felt the reception of IJ was missing the tragedy of the novel and focused too much on the comedy of it all.
{ 6 } FLUFFY WHITE CLOUDS ... Closest to cumulus clouds, but they're not really real clouds. In fact, according to some fan commentary and Wallace’s own reported reaction, he wasn’t thrilled with the hardcover's cloud design. He once compared it to the cloud pattern in an airline safety manual, suggesting he found it too generic or “American-Airlines flight–style.” For me, it reminded me of a Microsoft XP background circa 2001. Nonetheless, for the novel's focus on addictive media that might make it the perfect cover.
{ 7 } MODERN VS. POST-MODERN ... I appreciate DFW's take on the difference between modern and post-modern novels: modern novels are deliberately difficult, and the authors seem to want to create a kind of walled, elitist retreat from the popular 'best' lists and from 'normie' readers. While post-modern books are crafted to be, yes, difficult—maybe even more so—, but to appeal in a more broad, democratic way.
{ 8 } HABITUALIZE ... Apparently, both my Weebly website editor and also Merriam-Webster are claiming that "habitualize" is not a real word. But "habituate" is. I still think "habitualize" sounds better and reads clearer. Like how "naturalize" > "natuate".
{ 9 } DFW'S ENDNOTES ... David Foster Wallace popularized a hybrid effect for his endnotes; some of them are actually essential to understanding the story's plot through clues, reveals, and added helpful exposition; others contain punchlines and quirky asides in DFW's unique humor; some other endnotes seem to be written in a way this is intentionally boring, almost bureaucratic text. And by encouraging those few willing and possibly crazy readers to flip 400+ times to the back and front, he habituates⁸ readers into a back-and-forth motion similar to a tennis match.
{ 10 } DFW'S NONFICTION ... Consider the Lobster is pretty good so far, especially DFW's essays on Kafka, Dostoyevsky, and New England's lobster-eating culture. I mostly winced and shuddered through the first essay, though. I've heard excellent things about two other collections of his: A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again (especially his essays on tennis and David Lynch's films), and his short story collection Oblivion.
{ 11 } AFFILIATE LINKS ... I should note that I also hyperlink directly to books and the occasional film on Amazon.com and may receive a small sales commission on any products purchased. This affiliate partnership is one small (frankly way too small) way that I can help pay for website, domain, and hosting costs for this site. Any books and products purchased through my affiliate links are greatly appreciated.
{ 12 } READING AS MEDICINE ... Here are all of my yearly book roundups so far: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015. In them, I share my top ten favorite reads from the past year, plus ten or so 'runner-ups 'that I whole-heartedly enjoyed. Whether you pick up one or ten of them, fiction or non-fiction, now or in the future, I hope that they give you as much as they have given me. Not surprisingly, Infinite Jest is certainly on my 2025 round-up (coming in December per usual).
{ 13 } ENDNOTES VS. FOOTNOTES ... While endnotes and footnotes serve similar functions (to provide extra information, clarification, citations, jokes, digressions, etc. without breaking up the text's flow, it's worth noting their differences. Footnotes appear at the bottom of the same page where the reference appears. This gives the reader near-immediate access to the note, more optionally disrupts the reading flow (intentionally or unintentionally), but does make the page more visually noisy. Footnotes have become associated with academic texts and some authors like Vladimir Nabokov, Terry Pratchett, and occasionally DFW¹⁰. A superscript number (Ex "Endnotes⁹")⁹ often appears in the sentence, and the explanation is right below. Contrast this to an Endnote, which are collected at the end of a chapter or at the end of the book. This placement is less intrusive, but requires flipping to a separate section (or tapping in an e-reader). It creates a push–pull reading rhythm (which DFW intentionally uses in IJ), and allows for very long, digressive, mini-essays without cluttering the pages.
{ 14 } THE NOVEL'S LENGTH ... It took me 65 hours to read Infinite Jest over the course of six weeks. That's about ten hours and two weeks longer than Victor Hugo's epic novel Les Miserables, five hours longer and two months shorter than Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy and two hours and two weeks longer than Ayn Rand's magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged. The length and weight of IJ is partly the point. DFW wants us to get comfortable with feelings of confusion, of boredom, of not knowing exactly what’s going on, of being lost, and of needing to work, both physically and mentally, to find the answers.
{ 15 } YOU MAY ALSO LIKE ... Choosing only 4 other books for this blog post's "You May Also Like" section is difficult. I opted for two dystopias, a retelling of a mythic hero, and a play dramatizing the trial of the West's first gadfly. In The Handmaid's Tale we get a horrific future vision of a society that controls sex and pleasure too much (the opposite of IJ). In Anthem, we encounter a world devoid of the self; the word "I" is missing, though the novella has a much more optimistic tone and ending than most dystopias. In Zorro, we meet a young man questing for enlightenment, which he finds in new modern ideas, characters, and situations to undo the past's and present's prejudices. In Barefoot in Athens, we walk with Socrates, who famously asked critical questions about truth, justice, and beauty—but was ultimately damned for it by those who failed to answer his questions, revealing to us and themselves the depths of their own ignorance.
{ 16 } SUICIDE ... I've lost two people I personally knew, though not well enough, to suicide in the past year. If you are in pain and need help, please speak up to someone. For yourself and for those who love you.
{ 17 } TENNIS ... DFW once wrote that, “Midwest junior tennis was my initiation into true adult sadness.”
{ 18 } KAFKA ... From DFW's essay, Some Remarks on Kafka's Funniness from Which Probably Not Enough has Been Removed
{ 2 } GRAVITATIONAL PULL ... Not just cultural gravitational pull but actual gravitation pull. The 2008 paperback version whose cover is at the top of this post and features the iconic tennis ball green text, cerulean sky, and fluffy white clouds, weighs an impressive 2.55 lbs (1.157 kg since 1 lb ≈ 0.4536 kg). {6}. Multiplying by standard gravitational acceleration (≈ 9.81 m/s² though this varies slightly with latitude and altitude in ways no casual reader genuinely cares about), the book exerts a downward force—its weight in physical terms—of about 11.35 newtons. Even heavier though is IJ's hardcover. It weighs an impressive-to-carry and potentially nose-breaking-to-drop-while-reading-in-bed 3.2 lbs (1.451 kg). Again, multiplying by Earth’s standard gravitational acceleration (9.81 m/s²), you get a downward force—its actual physical weight—of ≈ 14.22 newtons. Meaning: your 3.2 lb hardcover exerts on your palm roughly the same force as a large housecat’s paw pressing down on a very small button. Whether hardcover or paperback, its gravitational pull is not much by astrophysical standards, but certainly something your bookshelf must account for. I like these 6-shelf ones from Shintenchi.
{ 3 } THOMAS PYNCHON ... I don't really think DFW's IJ reads much like Thomas Pynchon's Gravity’s Rainbow. The latter is closer to James Joyce's Ulysses, I think, with its bending and breaking of grammar. In this way, I found IJ much more accessible than those two aforementioned (post)-modern⁷ novels.
{ 4 } "RUMINATIONS" ... The word "ruminations" when typed on my Weebly website editor gives me that scary red squiggly underline, suggesting that it's incorrectly spelled. However, it isn't. Ruminate; ru·mi·nate;ˈrü-mə-ˌnāt; transitive verb; Definition 1: to go over in the mind repeatedly and often casually or slowly; Ex: "…ruminating on the benefits of upgrading my Google Chrome browser from version 140.0.7339.213 to version 140.0.7339.214.; Definition 2: to chew repeatedly for an extended period.
{ 5 } RECEPTION ... Apparently, DFW felt the reception of IJ was missing the tragedy of the novel and focused too much on the comedy of it all.
{ 6 } FLUFFY WHITE CLOUDS ... Closest to cumulus clouds, but they're not really real clouds. In fact, according to some fan commentary and Wallace’s own reported reaction, he wasn’t thrilled with the hardcover's cloud design. He once compared it to the cloud pattern in an airline safety manual, suggesting he found it too generic or “American-Airlines flight–style.” For me, it reminded me of a Microsoft XP background circa 2001. Nonetheless, for the novel's focus on addictive media that might make it the perfect cover.
{ 7 } MODERN VS. POST-MODERN ... I appreciate DFW's take on the difference between modern and post-modern novels: modern novels are deliberately difficult, and the authors seem to want to create a kind of walled, elitist retreat from the popular 'best' lists and from 'normie' readers. While post-modern books are crafted to be, yes, difficult—maybe even more so—, but to appeal in a more broad, democratic way.
{ 8 } HABITUALIZE ... Apparently, both my Weebly website editor and also Merriam-Webster are claiming that "habitualize" is not a real word. But "habituate" is. I still think "habitualize" sounds better and reads clearer. Like how "naturalize" > "natuate".
{ 9 } DFW'S ENDNOTES ... David Foster Wallace popularized a hybrid effect for his endnotes; some of them are actually essential to understanding the story's plot through clues, reveals, and added helpful exposition; others contain punchlines and quirky asides in DFW's unique humor; some other endnotes seem to be written in a way this is intentionally boring, almost bureaucratic text. And by encouraging those few willing and possibly crazy readers to flip 400+ times to the back and front, he habituates⁸ readers into a back-and-forth motion similar to a tennis match.
{ 10 } DFW'S NONFICTION ... Consider the Lobster is pretty good so far, especially DFW's essays on Kafka, Dostoyevsky, and New England's lobster-eating culture. I mostly winced and shuddered through the first essay, though. I've heard excellent things about two other collections of his: A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again (especially his essays on tennis and David Lynch's films), and his short story collection Oblivion.
{ 11 } AFFILIATE LINKS ... I should note that I also hyperlink directly to books and the occasional film on Amazon.com and may receive a small sales commission on any products purchased. This affiliate partnership is one small (frankly way too small) way that I can help pay for website, domain, and hosting costs for this site. Any books and products purchased through my affiliate links are greatly appreciated.
{ 12 } READING AS MEDICINE ... Here are all of my yearly book roundups so far: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015. In them, I share my top ten favorite reads from the past year, plus ten or so 'runner-ups 'that I whole-heartedly enjoyed. Whether you pick up one or ten of them, fiction or non-fiction, now or in the future, I hope that they give you as much as they have given me. Not surprisingly, Infinite Jest is certainly on my 2025 round-up (coming in December per usual).
{ 13 } ENDNOTES VS. FOOTNOTES ... While endnotes and footnotes serve similar functions (to provide extra information, clarification, citations, jokes, digressions, etc. without breaking up the text's flow, it's worth noting their differences. Footnotes appear at the bottom of the same page where the reference appears. This gives the reader near-immediate access to the note, more optionally disrupts the reading flow (intentionally or unintentionally), but does make the page more visually noisy. Footnotes have become associated with academic texts and some authors like Vladimir Nabokov, Terry Pratchett, and occasionally DFW¹⁰. A superscript number (Ex "Endnotes⁹")⁹ often appears in the sentence, and the explanation is right below. Contrast this to an Endnote, which are collected at the end of a chapter or at the end of the book. This placement is less intrusive, but requires flipping to a separate section (or tapping in an e-reader). It creates a push–pull reading rhythm (which DFW intentionally uses in IJ), and allows for very long, digressive, mini-essays without cluttering the pages.
{ 14 } THE NOVEL'S LENGTH ... It took me 65 hours to read Infinite Jest over the course of six weeks. That's about ten hours and two weeks longer than Victor Hugo's epic novel Les Miserables, five hours longer and two months shorter than Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy and two hours and two weeks longer than Ayn Rand's magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged. The length and weight of IJ is partly the point. DFW wants us to get comfortable with feelings of confusion, of boredom, of not knowing exactly what’s going on, of being lost, and of needing to work, both physically and mentally, to find the answers.
{ 15 } YOU MAY ALSO LIKE ... Choosing only 4 other books for this blog post's "You May Also Like" section is difficult. I opted for two dystopias, a retelling of a mythic hero, and a play dramatizing the trial of the West's first gadfly. In The Handmaid's Tale we get a horrific future vision of a society that controls sex and pleasure too much (the opposite of IJ). In Anthem, we encounter a world devoid of the self; the word "I" is missing, though the novella has a much more optimistic tone and ending than most dystopias. In Zorro, we meet a young man questing for enlightenment, which he finds in new modern ideas, characters, and situations to undo the past's and present's prejudices. In Barefoot in Athens, we walk with Socrates, who famously asked critical questions about truth, justice, and beauty—but was ultimately damned for it by those who failed to answer his questions, revealing to us and themselves the depths of their own ignorance.
{ 16 } SUICIDE ... I've lost two people I personally knew, though not well enough, to suicide in the past year. If you are in pain and need help, please speak up to someone. For yourself and for those who love you.
{ 17 } TENNIS ... DFW once wrote that, “Midwest junior tennis was my initiation into true adult sadness.”
{ 18 } KAFKA ... From DFW's essay, Some Remarks on Kafka's Funniness from Which Probably Not Enough has Been Removed
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
 ZORRO Isabel Allende  THE HANDMAID'S TALE Margaret Atwood |  ANTHEM Ayn Rand  BAREFOOT IN ATHENS Maxwell Anderson |
