Infinite Jest Without Footnotes?

I've decided to read Infinite Jest, but quickly became frustrated by the footnotes, specifically the fact that they're in the back of the book. Early into the book the footnotes don't seem to add much to the story, so I decided fuck it, I'm going to skip them. Then I got a bit nervous about 150 pages in so I read through the footnotes I had skipped and caught up on them. But I'm at a point where I just want to read the book straight through without reading the footnotes and then after finishing the main text going through the footnotes and connecting together missed information. I don't know if this reading style will work, but I'm open to thoughts and suggestions.

I'm just about halfway through the book and while I'm not thrilled about all the different stories (Mario's video at the dinner, though very informative about the politics of the story, bored me to death) I'm really digging a lot of the scenes and characters. The book becomes more approachable as time goes on and pages go by. I want to hurry up and be done with it so I can move on to something else, but for some reason I'm reading it slower than I normally read.

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The footnotes are part of the narrative. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to read them to get the full picture. If you skip, certain plot elements will not make sense.

This last part isn't really true.
You should read the endnotes though. Some of the best parts are there.

just read something else if you're gonna halfass it you faggot

Use two bookmarks, I did.

The reason that you're reading it slower than you normally do is that the prose is a hard slog.

They're not footnotes, they're endnotes. They're supposed to be at the end. Also in the case of Infinite Jest, they are part of the story and you should read them. They are often humorous and offer insight into the story.

Get a copy of the ebook version. It creates the same effect without the physical impracticality.

While we're on the topic of Infinite Jest, may I ask a question? I didn't want to start another IJ thread just for this.

I have heard that IJ was inspired by Hamlet. I have never read Hamlet, but I have a vague idea of it. Will I miss out on things because of this? I'm about halfway through IJ and it makes sense so far.

Just wondering if I'd appreciate it more if I were more familiar with Hamlet.

They comprise about one eleventh of the book. Why would you skip them? They're part of the plot. There are whole chapters in the endnotes. They're also hilarious. If you were reading a 300 page novel, would you randomly skip 30 pages at different points? Because that's what you're doing. This might be worse, actually.

You're fine. You're missing some of the inspiration/ideas and references. It's not the end of the world. A lot of plot points are developed from/out of Hamlet. It's not going to kill the book You should read Hamlet, though. It's great. And not just in the way a lot of boring classics are "great." Read at a time of change in your life, a point where you don't know exactly where you're going. Enjoy it.

Thanks for the info about Hamlet. I've only read a little bit of Shakespeare and I've been meaning to read more. I have no idea what I should be doing most of the time, so maybe now is the right time to read it, haha. Thanks.

1) Ebook. Use a PDF splitter (like smallpdf) to separate the footnotes from the main body. Ctrl F through both.

2) Just have two bookmarks.

why even read the book if you're going to willfully skip out on a major part of it because you're too lazy to flip to the back or use a second bookmark like a normal person

Since we're on the top of IJ, and considering I finished reading it a couple days ago, I have a few questions:


1. Apparently John Wayne was a triple agent according to some analysis I've read and I'm kinda lost on that. Was this actually implied somewhere? I know it was implied he had connections to the AFR but not being a triple agent.

2. What exactly was the point of the supernatural shit? Whether it was Lyle or the wraith or whatever. I can kinda understand the wraith if it's a reference to Hamlet but I still don't see what significance Lyle had at all.

3. Did Avril molest Orin? It seems to be implied and would explain would he detests his mother so much and his fucked up behavior.

4. Speaking of unnecessary shit, what was the point of that whole section with the black girl or guy talking in some incomprehensible bullshit? Aside from DFW beating the dead horse on certain themes, it felt like he added some much superfluous shit that he could've cut this novel down by almost 400 pages if he wanted.

5. Did the AFR end up releasing IJ at the end and fuck up all of America?

Oops. Didn't expect the formatting to get fucked up that bad.

Take a look at this for 1 2 and 5: aaronsw.com/weblog/ijend

3. That's what I'm thinking, you have that scene with John Wayne dressed up as an NFL player. I also think there were hints that Mario was not James' child which leaves open the possibility that he was Orin's (children of incest being more prone to deformity, also the unannounced nature of Mario's birth which is discussed somewhere in the first half of the book

4. You mean on page 37? Clenette is one of the residents of Ennet. If you mean the later one with yrstruly, C, and Poor Tony: it ties in a lot with the narrative. C being a major part of the book's ending, Poor Tony being associated with Pemulis' brother, etc.

I am a 200 pages read fag. I got a guy who's read ij to skim through the notes so far, and he told me they weren't that important. If notes are so important, why aren't they in the main pages?

Forgot to finish my thought about the Wardine be cry part. Imagine how self-conscious he must've felt writing that, knowing that his readers would likely take it the wrong way. I don't think it serves a functional purpose. I think he was trying to truthfully illustrate a facet of the DFW vision of near-future Boston.

Just keep two bookmarks. Makes it way easier I swear.

Being disrupted constantly to read an endnote is part of the experience. It's like watching TV

>2. What exactly was the point of the supernatural shit? Whether it was Lyle or the wraith or whatever. I can kinda understand the wraith if it's a reference to Hamlet but I still don't see what significance Lyle had at all.
I'm so confused by this question. It's been asked before, I can't really comment on the other stuff but IMO it's clear DFW is being playfully postmodern/comical with the fantasy stuff here. It's not really super-important.

You might as well ask what's up with annular fusion, or the fact that the book is set in the future with subsidized time? DFW is mixing an attempt at psychological realism in the modern day with playfully postmodernist sci-fi/fantasy elements, in an interview he said that's pretty much what he wanted to do --- mix these two trends in modern American fiction he saw

I did the same, but with Pale Fire. No introduction either. Still don't understand why it's called a novel.

I've heard the Orin theory about him being Mario's father but is that even biologically possible? Orin is only like 6 or 7 years older than Mario which would mean he'd have to be able to impregnate a woman at a really young age. It's probably more likely Mario is CT's son and considering CT's mother had shit genes, Mario probably inherited those.

>there were hints that Mario is not James' child
Thank you. I haven't laughed like that in some time. Fucking hints, megakek.

For question 3, I don't think so. She would treat him like he could do no wrong.

Does it sometime seem like Mario is the least fucked up of the Incandenzas? He seems to get along well with anyone, he and Lyle I guess.
Some people are characteristically helpful and it's great.

To clarify a bit. One time, he knew he had fucked really bad and she acted like it was nothing. I wouldn't call it conventionally traumatic but from what I gather some unprocessed guilt stayed with him. I think the Joelle chapters are the most expository on this.

One of the reasons I'm putting off reading Infinite Jest is the end notes, are they really that bad?

Is there any version with footnotes instead? It seems like a giant pain in the ass to have to flip to the back of the book every few paragraphs. Also, typically when I look at end notes, is because I'm really curious about something, and doing that takes me out of the story, but it's worth it because it's a gem of knowledge that I want. I don't want to flip to the back of the book for fictional plot. That seems stupid.

There's no reason the end notes are any better or worse than the main text; they're written in the same style and are usually humorous or at least neat. There's something like 360 spread over about 1000 pages, so they don't come that often and are usually pretty short. Sometimes multiple pages, but you have to read multiple pages of regular book anyway

also the endnotes are very much intentional and are important structurally to the narrative

> Read at a time of change in your life, a point where you don't know exactly where you're going.
What makes you say that about Hamlet though?

ohhhhh my godddd it's like Veeky Forums only talks about this fucking book
THERE ARE MORE GOD DAMN BOOKS
this book is FUCKING GOOD but JESUS CHRIST IT'S NOT THE FUCKING ONLY BOOK
jesus christ guys i mean aren't we here to discuss fucking literature why do we have to discuss this god damn book every fucking hour in a different thread
can we have some kind of infinite fucking jest thread daily that you guys can stay in

It's not the only thread either son

that's basically every stage of everyone's life lol

>frustrated by the footnotes

read it with an ereader. then you can flip back and forth between the end notes and the text. Also the dictionary function helps

Underrated post

This is a christian board. Please don't use His son's name in vain.

Think of who was fucking Hamlet's mom besides king Hamlet. Now think of IJ again. It's not Orin.