Infinite Summer - Thread #2

Veeky Forums has an Infinite Jest summer reading book group!
If you have an interest in this book -- whether you have read it or not -- please consider joining us!

We will be reading Infinite Jest from June 3rd (today) – August 11th with an average pace of 15 pages a day.

Discussions will take place right here on Veeky Forums, hopefully we will keep a thread floating around most of the time, but should activity slow down new threads will be made Friday for discussion to avoid daily spamming of dying threads.

TODAY'S READING is pages 97 - 109, scenes 34 and 35. Full schedule to follow this post.

*Infinite Jest is widely available in bookstores and in free ebooks formats online

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strawpoll.me/10356218 (embed)

SCENE BY SCENE GUIDE:
>faculty.sunydutchess.edu/oneill/Infinite.htm

REFERENCE SITE:
>infinitesummer.org/

Other urls found in this thread:

strawpoll.me/4625366
twitter.com/SFWRedditImages

full schedule, Day 1 being, of course, June 3rd

Reposting last year's poll, rereaders weigh in

strawpoll.me/4625366 (embed)

TODAY'S SIDE-TOPIC: What's your favorite cover art/edition and why is the Brazilian one?

Been reading for a few weeks already, at page 470 atm

I really enjoyed lurking the last thread, might actually participate in this one

delet this cover >:(

it was the DMZ

What did you think about the part about videophony?
It was similar even to what happens with people and facebook and other social media, even though the book was written before such things existed.

definetely. i think there is an even more direct analogy to skype and the sort, only dfw failed to predict even the audio call would become too much for people and that they would regress socialization further to text. i think most insightful part of that chapter is the spike of the new technology's use before a sharp falling off. i see a similar case with virtual reality headsets incoming. it's not that virtual reality as an idea is doomed to fail, but i don't think we're there yet. vr goggles, the dreaded vr porn we all fear addiction to, i don't think we have the technology yet. i think vr headsets will be a gimmick in gaming and computer industries for a year or two maybe. anyways, that's a little unrelated. it's also interesting how dfw's interlace pretty much predicted netflix streaming. and then there's the things he didn't get right at all, like the weird masks people wear. was that consciously absurdist satire or did he really think it was believable?

>implying
I understand it's different but there is still plenty of time for that "prediction" to come true, though i think it was meant to be "conciously absurd satire"

I started it yesterday and I'm about 60 pages in, not sure what I think about it, was expecting better prose.

>only dfw failed to predict even the audio call would become too much for people and that they would regress socialization further to text

dfw? videophones were favorite sf method of communication since like the sf of 50ss, and who uses video calls nowadays when like most of the modern cell phones can do those... and if people had wanted, video phones would have existed for like 30 years being specially constructed, not as a byproduct, they were just not needed

the preference for text was clear way before dfw too, at least ten years before even before ip calls became the norm, with the abundance of sms it was clear that people often prefer to text instead of to call

p.s. actually according to the wiki, sms only began to flourish around the time when dfw wrote infinite jest, fixed

the part about videophones still stays

What's the deal with the hamsters? Is that just some quirky joke?

Also, is the Great Concavity/Convexity relevant to the plot? It was explained a bit in the filmography of JOI, but it's oftentimes hard to differentiate what actually pertains to the plot(s) and what is narrative background noise. (This is my first read, obviously).

My first reading. I'm around 88 pages in. What do you mean by the great concavity/convexity? Do you mean the structure of the novel?

>Also, is the Great Concavity/Convexity relevant to the plot?
It is, but no need to worry because its explained - alongside the introduction of subsidised time and interdependence day - for your convenience in a puppet-parody of JOI's film 'ONANite' by Mario Incandenza a few hundred pages in

The prose is kind of shit, honestly. Don't expect too much.

Anybody else have trouble reading more than one or two scenes at a time? I keep having to take breaks because it's hard on my concentration to switch so often.

I've decided that I'm going to be reading Moby-Dick over the summer instead.

This book hasn't grasped my interest.

I'm reading both, and Brothers Karamazov too. IJ by thr schedule and the other two at a pace of 30ish pages a day. There is no need to limit yourself to only one work at a time.
unless your a simpelton :^)

I've tried reading more than one novel at a time in the past. I always end up favoring one over the other and reading it more, so I effectively end up finishing both of them separately.

It was kinda funny at the end but sad when you think about he kinda predicted at least the ascension bit, hope we don't fall as hard as the videophony tech in the novel.

bump

>reading all three of those at once
>i'm 18 and i just got into reading

calm your autism, kid

Yeah, I'm getting bored of this book. I could see the literary value of Ulysses and GR, but IJ feels like it was written by a intelligent kid who thought it'd be cool to show off a bit but went too far.

I'm thinking about dropping it and resume my Tolstoy readings.

On page 610 ... this book gets so boring in the middle

If you are being serious you should consider leaving

>babby tries reading for the first time

>pseud tries memes for the first time
>shoves them up the ass because no one told him reading and racing are different activities
>Calling on himself to show everyone what a big boy he is
momma must be proud

>30 pages for each of the 2 books + 15 pages of one book
lemme do the math for you chump
>75 pages a day
you must be slow in the head for this to seem like racing to you

> 30 + 20 + 15™®

> All books have an homogeneous ratio [1] of information per page

> Meeting daily quotas is somehow imperative over analyzing[2] and decently apprehending structure, flow, symbology and ones candid enjoyment.

[1] Homogeneity is the state of being homogeneous. Pertaining to the sciences, it is a substance where all the constituents are of the same nature (a) ; consisting of similar parts, or of elements of the like nature. For example, homogeneous particles, homogeneous elements, homogeneous principles, or homogeneous bodies; or (algebra) possessing the same number of factors of a given kind as with a homogeneous polynomial.

(a) Do not mistake with heterogeneous. A heterogeneous mixture is a mixture - pertaining to chemistry - of two or more compounds. I.e : Meme mixtures by faggot posters w/ or w/o pre-existing savoir-faire - most commonly known in the english equivalent 'know-how - on the modus operandi of reading literature. Mixtures of memes like - and not limited to - Moby Dick™®;Infinite Jest™®; Brothers Karamazov™®. During the sampling of heterogeneous mixtures of pseud posts, the valor of substance is inexistent.(b)

(b) Sampling error is generally non-zero.

[2] In Veeky Forums subculture there seems to be lack of general consensus as to the reasons one reads. Inexperienced posters often resort do 'ad hominem'(a) arguments, I.e; Git gud(b) sub-subvocalizing pleb, reading for plot etc. when confronted with 'the meme' - self adverting to this comes the realization that it often takes years of commitment and discipline to master Veeky Forums's multiple charts and something which the new friend(c) finds hard to accept - and often goes to great lengths to hide his inexperience.

(a) Latin for "to the man" or "to the person", A.H. is a logical fallacy in which an argument is rebutted by attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the person making the argument, or persons associated with the argument, rather than attacking the substance of the argument itself. And but so this is regarded by the more serious part of the community - the one which enjoys literature and eloquent shitposting - as an annoyance and contributive part to the board's depreciation of general quality.

(b) Corruption of the frase "Get good"

(c) Veeky Forums argot referring to someone new and unfamiliar with Veeky Forums's protocols and lexicon. Derivative of the more offensive term 'newfag'

mto bom

Keep in there... it starts to get really good
particularly after Gately's run in with the Canadians

>'I'm awful sorry to bother. I can come back. I was wondering if maybe there was any special program prayer for when you want to hang yourself.'
Now it sounds forced and cheesy but when you read the later bits of AA reunions this parts get a bit sadder, those fuckers went through hell before going to Ennet.

Underrated post

bump

Hey I made a version of the schedule with dates, maybe it will help some others like me. Let me know if I made any dumb error :P