infinite jest
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The Library, and Step on It
Four days ago, David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest turned twenty; if you had been reading a page a day since it came out, by now you could have read it over 6.5 times. Despite its age and length, the novel…
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Infinite Cover Redesigns
The Millions shows us the new fan-designed cover for the 20th anniversary edition of David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, as well as a short and sweet interview with Wallace’s editor and Little, Brown CEO Michael Pietsch.
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I Would Have Done That. Instead.
For most readers, Infinite Jest is or was a formidable challenge looming in the future or receding in the past. But in the shadow of greater obstacles, it makes a decent distraction: I was the same depressed, anxious woman I…
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The Rumpus Interview with David Lipsky
David Lipsky, whose book was recently adapted into the movie The End of the Tour, discusses his career as a writer and journalist as it’s evolved in the twenty years since his road trip with David Foster Wallace.
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Got to Pg. 359 and Stopped Reading
So why has Infinite Jest, supposedly such an influential novel, become a paper weight, a talking point, a bench-mark of high- and low-brow intellectuality? Why has no one (or, more accurately, why does everyone think that no one) has actually…
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The Last Poems I Loved: John Berryman’s Dream Songs #265 and #279
I have a tendency to read difficult books when my life is difficult.
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This Incredible Writer and Thinker and Person
For The Millions, Jonathan Russell Clark covers Little Brown’s new The David Foster Wallace Reader, touching upon what he calls the writer’s “metanonfiction.” He also discusses, among other things, his hopes for the volume: … if this “Reader” accomplishes anything,…
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Gotta Serve Somebody
In an excerpt from his recently released book Rocket and Lightship: Essays on Literature and Ideas, Adam Kirsch positions David Foster Wallace as a quintessentially American writer: self-conscious and ironic, but at the same time frenzied, earnest, and above all…
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Infinite Brickjest
Fascinated by The Brick Bible, Professor Kevin Griffith of Ohio’s Capital University has had his 11-years-old son Sebastian recreating in LEGO bricks 100 scenes from David Foster Wallace’s masterpiece Infinite Jest. Griffith explained to The Guardian: “I would describe a scene to him…
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“The.” “Dialogue?” “Novel!”
Dialogue novels and stories are worth reading not simply because of their unique structures, but because of how they engage us.
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How Many Words Are in Ulysses?
265,222. In Infinite Jest? 483,994. Curious how many words other famous works of literature contain? Take a look at this infographic over at Electric Literature, where you can learn about some of the longest stories, the shortest stories, and plenty…
