Picked up Infinite Jest, what do I need to know?

The english language

How to read.

>>9103820
this and also read my diary before this

>>9103814
This REALLY triggers me. It's a fucking book. You read it. You don't need to know anything, you need to not be such an attention seeking, validation seeking fuckwit.

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this is better , anon

>>9103836
Pls go away tao lin and stop shilling

Don't get caught up in anticipating resolutions, and take your laughs and insights where you can get them in that jungle of a book

>>9103814
you fell for the meme

>>9103814

>what do I need to know?

Hamlet for allusions.

>>9103832
Fuck, you're mad lmao

>>9103814
You don't have to read it, just put it on your shelf.

>>9103814
that the literati will think of you in a certain way if you are a young man who enjoys it. I hope you don't have a man bun, that'd be a serious strike.

>>9104018

Yes, allusions-wise Hamlet is the most important, followed by The Brothers Karamazov and then Ulysses

>>9103814
That it's actually pretty entertaining and that you don't need to have read anything in particular prior to understand it. Also, if you don't like it 100 pages in, you can completely just drop it. Life's too short to read 1000 page books you don't like.

>>9103814
>The narrative is fractured for a reason
>The endnotes are not endnotes, they are another form of fracture
>everything is explained if you can stick with it

>The narrative is fractured for a reason

>>9103836
>tfw my gay asian friend recommended me tao lin unironically

>>9105881
This is an actually good post.

>>9103814
How to put it down.

>>9103836
I actually agree, but that probably has to do with the fact that I found IJ just too damn long - so I quit reading it.

>>9103814
Bend the spine so it looks like you've read it

>>9107276
Hey, that's my trick! I got a wicked spine crack in it and I dropped it at page 300.

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>>9105406
>Also, if you don't like it 100 pages in, you can completely just drop it.
don't really agree with this. If you're still bored (you will probably be in varying levels of confusion so don't let that deter you) at ~page 250 then I would drop it. After a while you'll get sucked in and you will be obsessed. IJ was one of the few things that helped (temporarily) curb my addiction to 4chan.

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>>9105406
>Also, if you don't like it 100 pages in, you can completely just drop it.
Holy fuck WRONG

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>>9107341

As someone who has read this book eleven times, I would strongly recommend that one continue reading until AT LEAST page 500. It's here where the book really starts to take off, and all the seemingly boring crap really begins to work together as part of the same big picture.

>>9103814
That the author was a fan of Thomas Harris. Read this and the Broom of the System. Read Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon by Harris after. Found that I enjoyed Harris more than Wallace. Wallace is a tryhard, and he tried to shill Harris's short poetic driving prose when not engaging in postmodern tripe.

>>9107341
>After a while you'll get sucked in and you will be obsessed.
This. I was reading too much to think about being depressed

I got up to the part where Hal's brother has a sneak make out sesh in the bushes with the bulky girl. After that I couldn't do it anymore.

Completely ignored footnotes lol

>>9103814
recommend using this >http://infinitejest.wallacewiki.com/david-foster-wallace/index.php?title=Main_Page
there's a page by page guide that helps with quick definitions of words you might not know. instead of googling every single word like i did for a while.

if you find it too daunting at first, maybe try reading broom of the system first. i think that's good introductory novel for dfw. i actually read it in the time i was still reading IJ.
>>9107341
this. 250 pages is really the sweet spot

>>9107843
Nicknaming someone USS+their name is one of the funniest ways to make fun of fat people I have ever encountered.

You need to know that it's a terrible book. Throw it in the garbage.

>>9108961
/thread

>>9103814
hal dies in the end

>>9107848
Thank you, anon

Most of the people arguing for the book are giving me great motivation to keep reading, thnx