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/lit/ - Literature

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18490100 No.18490100 [Reply] [Original]

One of my friends is planning to gift me Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace for my birthday. He can be a bit pretentious sometimes. He called me up ask me if I thought I was intelligent enough to read it, which annoyed me so I said yes. But after finding that it's a difficult read on the internet, now I'm wondering if I should just admit that I can't because he'll likely try to discuss this with me and make fun of me with our friends when I fail to understand it and try to bullshit my way out. Should I just refuse? Also, new to /lit/, apologize if this thread doesn't belong here.

>> No.18490137

>>18490100
Sure, anyone can read it, just take a little more effort for some. Allow him to help when you have difficulty, admit that you are lost if you are. Share in something he finds important, you may discover he is less pretentious than you think.

>> No.18490144

>>18490137
>Allow him to help when you have difficulty, admit that you are lost if you are. Share in something he finds important, you may discover he is less pretentious than you think.
Thanks, I'll ask him then. I sure do hope that he'll keep it just between us.

>> No.18490150

Why does this seem like some sort of /pol/ BBC slide thread?

>> No.18490156

>>18490150
Huh?

>> No.18490175

>>18490100
I think the biggest issue youre going to have is finding motivation to read the entire thing. Its a thick book with a lot of characters to keep track of.

>> No.18490177

>>18490150
Because it's an elaborate bait for people who don't even exist. I don't believe anyone who goes to bat for this book on /lit/ is sincere

>> No.18490182

If your "friend" makes fun of you he's not your friend.
Reading novels doesn't mean you're smart. It's a hobby for teens, incels, and menopausal women. Or Russians in winter.
And anyone can read anything, good on you if you had had better things to do with your life than learn to catch references in Wallace.
Just find a summary and analysis online and make the tool look like a fool

>> No.18490194

>>18490144
>I sure do hope that he'll keep it just between us.
Why?

>> No.18490195

>>18490175
I don't mind the number of pages as long as it's something that an average person who doesn't read a lot, can understand it.

>> No.18490201

>>18490182
>Reading is for incels
Why are you spending your time on /lit/?

>> No.18490205

>>18490194
Because it's embarrassing if he tells about it. You wouldn't want to look like an idiot infront of others, no?

>> No.18490214

>>18490205
You will look like a bigger idiot for letting your ego get in the way.

>> No.18490220

>>18490195
When i imagine the average person who doesnt read i imagine someone who would rather stare at their phone before bed than a book.

Nothing about the writing style is difficult. Its just long, and takes a bit of concentration to keep track of which character is present, as he switches between characters and time quite frequently.
If youre motivated to finish it than it shouldnt be a problem

>> No.18490221

>>18490182
>Just find a summary and analysis online and make the tool look like a fool
I've a feeling this will it worse. I'm a stubborn idiot who can't admit that I'm an idiot, I've tendency to bullshit my way through, and I've a feeling that I'll definitely get caught here.

>> No.18490224

>>18490201
It used to be comfy, now I'm just dissing all you illiterate pseuds while waiting for the water to boil

>> No.18490226

Infinite jest isn’t a particularly difficult book, if your friend wasn’t busting your balls he’s a pretentious idiot
You won’t have problems with it if you aren’t disabled

>> No.18490230

>>18490195
No one understands everything.

>>18490221
Even if you are not an idiot doing that would just make you look like one. That anon is attempting to set you up.

>>18490224
You are kind of pathetic.

>> No.18490234

>>18490220
As long as it's like a lengthy college text book and not like Quantum Mechanics, I should be fine.

>> No.18490236

>>18490230
>You are kind of pathetic.
You would say that, wouldn't you

>> No.18490240

>>18490221
make it*

>> No.18490244

>>18490220
What you are describing is just surface reading. Reading it like that is exactly what will get OP made fun of

>> No.18490246

>>18490236
If you quack I will call you a duck.

>> No.18490248

>>18490182
Most literate people would be able to get through infinite jest but you haven’t interacted with many genuinely stupid, or even average people if you think everyone can read (and understand) anything.

>> No.18490254

>>18490246
Yet I'm not the incel of the two of us

>> No.18490260

>>18490248
I just said read, not understand
Everyone is different degrees of stupid

>> No.18490264

>>18490254
>quack quack quack

>> No.18490271

>>18490264
Here, have another you to buff that frail ego of yours
If you weren't pathetic and projecting you wouldn't have been bothered by me making fun of you
Have a nice day now, coffee is ready

>> No.18490282

>>18490230
You/your friends must be judgmental dicks anon, looking down on someone who doesn’t read often for struggling with a relatively difficult book is like looking down on a baby for being unable to talk

>> No.18490283

>>18490271
>quack
>quack quack, quack. Quack.
>quack quack.

>> No.18490322

>>18490244
Like how, exactly? IJ isn’t really a novel demands deep reading; everything is spelled out pretty clearly
Imo it’s actually a bit too on the nose at points (every Marathe-Steeply scene)

>> No.18490371

>>18490264
>>18490283
The absolute level of /lit/

>> No.18490409

>>18490371
>NOOO!
>you have to fall for my bait and get angry
>you're not doing it right!

>> No.18490449

The only difficult part about IJ is maintaining interest in a narrative going nowhere with characters that are unlikable and robotic. I swear it's a peer pressure hazing ritual for midwits. You're not missing out on any valuable insights by avoiding IJ, just a load of trivia knowledge that might earn you $100 at a pub some day.

>> No.18490456

>>18490449
>PGOAT
>pemulis
>unlikable and robotic

>> No.18490469

>>18490456
Just ignore the people who never read it.

Nothing in literature has ever made me as genuinely happy as Mario and the homeless people did, I feel better about the world just thinking about it.

>> No.18490538

i would recommend reading along with one of the online wikis

really helps a lot with references/words Wallace makes up and such

despite the length i found it to be really readable

>> No.18490649

>>18490150
Meds. Now

>> No.18492209

finished it yesterday. took roughly two months i guess. read aaron shwartz explanation of the ending after you are done. i did not catch most of it and was really confused by the book. even if i didnt understand the ending, the book was interesting enough and has a good message to be worth it.

>>18490469
That part was funny. Just imagining him being like "whoa hey there. oh you want me to touch you? uh, ok, ya haha oh you too? ok haha". just kind of confused but happy to oblige. there

>> No.18492509

your friend sounds like a tremendous faggot.
this is not a hard read, it's just long. stick with it, write things down, and google things you are confused about. then kick your friend in the testicles.

>> No.18492677

>>18490150
rent free

>> No.18492712

>>18490100
If you have an e-reader, get a epub with easy endnotes. Makes it much less annoying to flip back to the end of the book very frequently