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/lit/ - Literature

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File: 43 KB, 445x689, Infinite Jest.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
19895115 No.19895115 [Reply] [Original]

What are the prerequisites to Infinite Jest? Also, which edition should I purchase?

>> No.19895123

>>19895115
1. Learn to read;
2. Purchase, steal, borrow or rent a copy.

>> No.19895124

>>19895115
A bookmark is handy, some like two but that raises the question of what to do with the one whose section you are currently reading. That is about the only thing close to a prerequisite but not really a prerequisite. I suppose being able to read is the only prerequisite. Starting with IJ he was very concerned about works being self contained and not needing other sources beyond the standard reference books like a dictionary.

Get what ever version you want, they are all the same book.

>> No.19895169
File: 738 KB, 1086x935, Infinite Sweat.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
19895169

>>19895115
No prerequisites. It's actually a pretty easy read. The only difficulty is its length.
Also, don't get this edition if your hands get sweaty.

>> No.19895441

only pre-requisite is knowing that he's desperate to impress you the whole time.

edition doesnt matter, if youre using some kind of wiki or companion guide just like add or subtract the page numbers to match your edition ffs

>> No.19895578

>>19895115
Nobody would give a shit about this bad book if the author didn't an hero

>> No.19896059

>>19895578
t.Franzen.

>> No.19896157

>>19895115
Drop acid, at least once.

>> No.19896160

>>19895115
I am an ESL, will it be difficult for me to read?

>> No.19896244

I don't think there're any prerequisites really.

Having read Hamlet will probably enrich your reading experience the most. The title "Infinite Jest" is literally taken from Hamlet.

I also remember reading somewhere that Infinite Jest was inspired by Pynchon's Vineland, or was kind of responding to it. Haven't read that one, but obviously reading some famous post-modern works from the late 20th century will give you context for the time in which Infinite Jest was published. DFW was all about sincerity and argued against post-modernism and against cynical media. If you know any TV shows from the 90s, you'll catch a lot of references through that alone, and better understand what DFW was arguing against.

>> No.19896630
File: 52 KB, 349x500, davesworld.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
19896630

How the FUCK is USS Millicent able to play tennis or molest Mario if she's 200kg?

>>19896160
What other English books have you read?

>>19896244
Vineland is a weird book. It's very much boomer "it's okay if your wife/mom runs away to fuck some other guy" type of shit mixed in with kung fu pulp movies and the dying culture of hippies. Pynchon also really makes it clear that he doesn't like Nixon or Reagan. It's got some stuff about TV addiction but everything just feels kind of limp when you compare it to a book like Gravity's Rainbow or MD.

>> No.19896637

>>19896244
http://a-certain-slant.blogspot.com/1997/02/a-supposedly-fun-thing-ill-never-do.html
He talks about Pynch here

>> No.19896836

>>19895115
Brush up on Hamlet. Just reading through the scene summaries on sparknotes should be good enough.

>> No.19896948

>>19896630
not him, but i'm also an esl, and i have found the catcher in the rye easy, but sherlock holmes difficult

>> No.19897013

>>19896630
Even a squirrel could molest Mario.
>tfw you will never give qtpi Mario his first orgasm

>> No.19897132

>>19896637
Nice interview. Thanks for the link!

>> No.19897146

>>19896630
Thanks for the summary of Vineland. Maybe I'll come around to it. I still have to read some of Pynchon's other books that are probably better. The stuff about TV addiction might be right up my alley though.

>> No.19897173

What are the prerequisite to cooking a burrito like barbaritos with a similar taste and size, that I could make at home so I don't need to spend so much money on takeout? I can never (I'm gay) find burrito rolls at Kroger that are as large as the ones (I'm gay) that I find at Barbaritos, or that are spinach flavored. I also want to make my own spicy chicken that tastes the same, and to have similar tasting chipotle ranch.

>> No.19897249

>>19897173
Only good post in the thread

>> No.19897253

>>19897173
>>19897249
Samefag

>> No.19897259

>>19897173
>>19897249
>>19897253
>>19897259
Samefag

>> No.19897282

>>19895169
stop posting my book >:(

>> No.19897696

>>19897282
You're a legend m8

>> No.19898446
File: 45 KB, 800x546, 1564430614422.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
19898446

I wish I was Dr. Incandescent and I had a hot tall wife and weird little gremlin camera son.

>> No.19899011

>>19896630
>How the FUCK is USS Millicent able to play tennis or molest Mario if she's 200kg?
I took it as a surreal exaggeration from the narrator about that exact number, but if anything that would make it easier with Mario, for tennis she probably hits way harder than anyone else

>> No.19899578

>>19895115
1. The alphabet

>> No.19899853

What do you learn from reading infinite jest? Like dies it change you? What kind of a person do you become?

>> No.19899907

>>19895169
lmao too late i got that edition

>> No.19899919

>>19899853
I started killing animals and stealing shopping bags from Chinese women.

>> No.19901403

>>19899853
its a pretty insightful book with regards to the idea of addiction and the experiences real addicts go through. if you arent a fully fledged addict, you probably wont be if you read this book and a few people on here have said it helped them realise their own addictions and thus helped them better themselves.

>> No.19901422
File: 342 KB, 1887x873, 1641757510863.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
19901422

>> No.19901442

>>19895115
I hate this pretentious faggot and his pretentious book. Always wears a bandana like a nigger which is fucking stupid.

>> No.19901455

>>19901442
His sister roasted him once for his haircut and he got really insecure about that, on par with Pynchon and his teeth. Blame her for the bandana.

>> No.19901597

>>19901455
>Blame her for the bandana.
He said the origin of the bandana was when he lived in Arizona and the heat would cause sweat to drip onto his typewriter, although I guess that was a story he would just make up if he was really insecure about his hair.

>> No.19901749

>>19901403
I'm a porno and masturbation addict. Also, desperately want a woman to love me. Does it help with that?

>> No.19901753

>>19901442
t.Franzen

>> No.19902079

>>19895115
tons of alcohol

>> No.19902089

>>19901753
but I thought they were BFFs, was it all a lie?

>> No.19902090

>>19902079
Why exactly?

>> No.19902095
File: 95 KB, 1280x720, dfww.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
19902095

>>19902090
you'll see

>> No.19903531

Bump.

>> No.19903566

>>19896160
DFW likes to use big jargony words from time to time but to be honest most native speakers will be looking those up too so you should be fine. I'd recommend you read some of his essays first though to get a sense of his style.

>> No.19903575

>>19897282
post more pictures of your book

>> No.19903916

>>19901749
Yes but you will want to fuck Mrs. Incandeza and Madame Psychosis.

>> No.19903976

>>19902090
Dont forget to smoke a shit ton of weed.

>> No.19904101

>>19897282
Post more

>> No.19904305

>The Sony Walkman was released in 1979, created by Akio Morita, Masaru Ibuka and Kozo Ohsone. It became a popular and widely imitated consumer item in the 1980s. In everyday language, "walkman" became a generic term, referring to any personal stereo, regardless of producer or brand. The spread of personal stereo devices contributed to tape cassettes outselling vinyl records for the first time in 1983. The introduction of the personal stereo coincided with the 1980s aerobics vogue, making it very popular to listen to music during workouts. Moreover, the prevalence of portable cassette players correlates with a 30-percent increase of people walking for exercise between 1987 and 1997.

He put the cassette into his walkman and focused on steadying his legs.

>The human leg, in the general word sense, is the entire lower limb of the human body, including the foot, thigh and even the hip or gluteal region. However, the definition in human anatomy refers only to the section of the lower limb extending from the knee to the ankle, also known as the crus or, especially in non-technical use, the shank. Legs are used for standing, and all forms of locomotion including recreational such as dancing, and constitute a significant portion of a person's mass. Female legs generally have greater hip anteversion and tibiofemoral angles, but shorter femur and tibial lengths than those in males.

His tibial lengths had bothered him from a young age, as they precluded him from playing basketball, a sport his father let him play for a season before he gave up.

>Basketball is a sport where(…)

There, now you’ve read the entire book. Paste any encyclopedia article and then return to a mundane domestic situation such as dialing a phone or buying a soda.

>> No.19904688

>>19904305
This isn't what the book is like at all. Most of the technology he describes is fake and the realism is all cranked up and bizarre.

>> No.19904814
File: 379 KB, 918x689, 1623586623555.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
19904814

literally just read bro, it easy

>> No.19905349

>>19902089
You should read the interview where Franzen suggested that DFW might've killed himself because he was envious of Franzen as he couldn't reach his level of success.

>> No.19905375
File: 21 KB, 480x368, 1644558931688.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
19905375

Remember SACPOP guys? Ahh good funny

>> No.19905383

>>19905375
Sorry guys this was supposed to be a gif but I'm not too good with computers lol

>> No.19905388

>>19905349
Franzen should spend some time prepping for DFW questions, his answers just get more and more embarrassing each year. In some ways it reads like he is angry about DFW killing himself, in others it reads as petty.

>> No.19905558

>>19905349
Lmao

>> No.19905562

>>19905349
Wait is this real or bait because I could honestly see him not like our right saying it but implying it.

>> No.19905651

>>19895115
You must enjoy penis

>> No.19905653

>>19905651
>is on 4chan
given.

>> No.19906363

>>19905562
It's real.