We’re six weeks in and now we arrived at the stage where we question the nature of this singular roller-coaster called Infinite Jest.
Is there a purpose behind this constant shift of pace and momentum or are is it all arbitrary?
Maybe it symbolizes different stages of addiction and withdrawal, or maybe David Foster Wallace has purposely built the story this way to keep distracting and surprising us time and time again.
After all, this is not completely unheard of in the world of storytelling. For instance, the brilliant filmmaker David Lynch tends to use expectation as a tool, thus taking advantage of the fact that the viewers often tend to engage emotionally with the scene.
You see, what he does is creating characters that at first would appear to be flat and without much substance, setting the expectations based on a sub-plot that seems a little two-dimensional and simplistic and as a consequence you tend to drop your guard down a little.
But then all of the sudden, and when you least expect it, he pulls the rug and drops you.
Then you realize that those expectations were in fact nothing but a trap leading to that key moment where all he has to do is to switch the bait, leaving the entire audience in a state of awe.
A lot of parts of Infinite Jest seem to be dense and very slow-paced but then all of the sudden, something totally unexpected happens... Often in the most hilarious way.
Which begs the question:
Do you think that David Foster Wallace keeps purposely shifting the momentum to enhance the element of surprise?
Or do you think that the story was randomly born out the beautiful chaos of a restless mind?
On that note, Book Club member Dennis has found a very interesting article he wants to share with us, and that may help us understand the novel a little bit more since it sheds light at some unknown aspects of David Foster Wallace’s life.
For more details, here’s the recording to the entire session Last week’s meeting:
https://soundcloud.com/user-655948001/infinite-jest-session-8-of-the-steemit-book-club
Details for the next meeting:
Book: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Reading Assignment: Chapter Nine “YEAR OF THE DEPEND ADULT UNDER-GARMENT” (pages 317-343)
Date: Monday, May 8th
Start Time: 6:00 p.m. PST / 9 p.m. EST / 2 a.m. GMT
Call Length: One hour.
Phone Access: (800) 719-6100 or (218) 339-7800, access code 629-1831#
Web Audio Access (sound quality isn't generally as good as phone): https://hello.freeconference.com/conf/call/6291831
P.S. You can these links to help guide you as you read Infinite Jest:
http://faculty.sunydutchess.edu/oneill/Infinite.htm (THIS LINK HAS SPOILERS)
http://infinitejest.wallacewiki.com/david-foster-wallace/index.php?title=Main_Page#Page_by_Page_Annotations (No spoilers)
Best,
