Why write a large engrossing novel to tell people to stop being

>>9704535
For the record, I don't hate DFW or something I just feel perplexed.

i have #4 it's the best from those imo

try to let what is unfair teach you op

>>9704535
It's educational, not entertaining. Unless education entertains you.

>>9704535
Because it's targeted towards people who haven't entirely surrendered themselves to easily-consumed seductive entertainment?

>>9704535
Congrats, you've discovered irony.

>>9704549
I don't think he was trying to be ironic with his warning against entertainment.

>>9704541
>try to let what is unfair teach you
I didn't understand this :(

>>9704535
he wrote it so large so that it was hard to read (yes it's hard to read if you disagree you're just being a "IAMSMARTLOOKATME" douche bag) so that by reading and finishing it you've already managed to take yourself away from some engrossing, easily consumable entertainment, and I think that is more the point, not necessarily don't be entertained, but don't take cheap, dumb, easy to consume entertainment to the extremes because its so easy to just let the time slip away while you're bingeing on sitcoms.

He didn't. Infinite Jest is not engrossing, its prosaic and a chore to read.

>>9704653
*clears throat*

P L E B D O N
L
E
B
D
O
N

>>9704549
>>9704561
It is not irony but rather some form of post-irony - irony turned into sincerity. Infinite Jest is such a genuine work (and genuinely difficult, as >>9704604 says), which disqualifies it from being an entertainment commodity, and instead rendering it into something more profound.

#3 in paperback. Mine's in beat-up shape but it's not like I'm going to buy it again.

David Foster Wallace is a bad author. Infinite Jest is a bad novel. You are a nu-male.

I got #5 in my shelf. I haven't been able to go thru it all, it's so damn hard. The parts I've read were good nevertheless, they requiered lots of effort.

>>9704535
It's poetic you faggot.
The novel is circuitous and large and engrossing because it's suppose to illustrate the effects of engrossing entertainment.
Whatever you have to do in your life to structure your life in a way that allows you to finish the book is an intended consequence. Maybe you have to quit watching TV or you spend less time with your friends or you don't go into your job as much or you go on a transcendent vacation, etc.
When the book is finished it will leave you faced with the challenge of what to do in the void of engrossing entertainment.
You will either want to read the novel again or find some other entertainment to fill the void or reevaluate your habits or look for another engrossing activity to challenge you.

The intended effects of reading infinite jest are either eventual suicide or self-improvement.

File: 1498967459465.jpg (35KB, 468x568px) Image search: [Google]

35KB, 468x568px

>>9704535
>the book that
>changed the rules

>>9704535
I don't think it's meant to take a firm stance against entertainment as a whole but rather to call out addiction to it and question its negative repercussions.

Cover #3

>>9704535
You didnt read the book. DFW was an avid consumer of entertainment. The dude was a huge film buff.

The novel serves partly as a warning against letting entertainment and technology ruin our relationships. Our consumer culture puts things and entertainment ahead of people, especially when we consume in a compulsory manner. Genuine, sincere relationships are lost (think of steeplys shithole dad watching MASH instead of being a part of his children's lives).

Entertainment is okay when it does rule your life.

>>9704653
>chore to read
Why are people on /lit/ so adamant about admitting their brainlets? Is this a sympathy thing or what

>>9707433
>le im so smart because i found it easy to read xD
Kys my man.

>>9707418
>does
does not, typo

>>9704653
I disagree. I think it's actually a very fun read, by and large. Its actual problems stem from the fact that Wallace steals nearly all his ideas and style from Pynchon and DeLillo.

>>9707437
Different poster

It's an investment certainly but it's not especially difficult

#3 evokes the surreal nature of infinite jest imo

>>9708496
I have #3 and there's one page in the endnotes (in JOI's filmography, I think) with crazy printing errors and I couldn't tell if it was intentional or not until I googled it. It was a nice touch, even though erratum.

>>9704535
I am enjoying The Pale King much more than infinite jest desu

the yellow-greenish acid color letters is obviously the best cover. the only other acceptable one is the number 1.