>I am seated in an office, surrounded by heads and bodies.

>>9835566
Good thread.

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>>9835566
Infinite Jest is unironically the worst thing Wallace ever wrote. Brief Interviews played with language better. Good Old Neon explored the same central themes better. His essays express specific insights better.

Infinite Jest is just an amalgamation of the worst and most indulgent tendencies of all Wallace's other work, remarkable only for its length. I love the man, but the fact that anyone thinks Jest is his magnum opus boggles my mind.

Maybe I'm just a fucking moron, but I don't see the appeal.

>>9835913
The works you mention as better come AFTER ij too, which I think is important. Dfw just needed to impose his big phallic novel into the world so he could do other, different stuff. GoN and BI are fantastic--especially underrated is the pivot from drugs/addiction/hyper-whatever to the 'banal': offices and normal type folk. You can draw a straight line from BI to oblivion to TPK. I also tell people to read supposedly fun thing (better version of IJ--entertainment, infantalization of US, general problems of US, tennis essay lol) then oblivion. That's getting the most condensed Wallacian themes. The other pre-IJ stuff is all his bullshit theory crap and obsession w/Witt and Pomo's. Not worth at all

>>9835566

Was he trying to be Descartes with this line?

so this is water

>>9835913
I agree with your picture. Dr. Faygo is also better.

>>9835566
isnt that line trying to say the narrator is in a disassociated state and the people around him are faceless disembodied forms? Idk.

>>9835913
I see where you're coming from, and even agree in a sense, but Infinite Jest is incredibly important to me for various reasons. I relate deeply to a lot of what happens in IJ, and it got me through a lot of tough shit a few years ago. That being said, Infinite Jest might be my favorite, but it's not the best thing he ever wrote. Good Old Neon is better than any part of IJ, and The Pale King has some of the greatest passages he ever wrote.

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>>9835995
>Dfw just needed to impose his big phallic novel into the world so he could do other, different stuff.

This actually explains a lot. Normally I hate playing armchair psychologist, but DFW clearly suffered from the same desperate need for approval that many of his characters did, so it would make sense that once he wrote something that was essentially one giant plea for critical approval, he'd feel secure enough to pursue the things which he was genuinely interested in.

This would also explain why he loosened up and started making more public appearances. Good post.

>mfw I'm writing a big, phallic novel as we speak

>>9836555
I can totally respect loving the fuck out of a book for personal reasons. I definitely respect that you're not letting those feelings taint your perception of the book's quality relative to other books. Also a good post.

>>9838126
>>Dfw just needed to impose his big phallic novel into the world so he could do other, different stuff.

wallace says this during an interview in regards to feminist's take on his book.

>I can totally respect loving the fuck out of a book for personal reasons. I definitely respect

what are you even saying? how would anyone love a book outside of personal reasons? I'm slightly apprehensive in responding to you because a) I don't like putting out negative energy (but you seem like such a fag I just had to) b) you seem potentially unstable and could hunt me down

but I get the feeling you're just 16-19 years old and otherwise incapable of retribution

>>9838148
>How would anyone love a book outside of personal reasons?

Maybe I'm a special, but I always feel a little guilty when I love something that's not also "objectively" (read: widely considered) good. It took me a while to realize that there's nothing wrong with enjoying something purely because you're in a unique position to enjoy it. I'm just trying to convey my appreciation for your ability to enjoy things independently of their perceived value.

>you seem potentially unstable and could hunt me down

I don't think I'm unstable. I definitely wouldn't hunt down anyone because of what they did or didn't say on 4chan. My writing probably comes off as a bit strange, though. Sorry if that's the case.

>>9838126
I agree, objective quality is not the same thing as enjoyment. Ignore that other faggot, he's an embarrassment.

God, what a hack.

>>9835995
was it a poor decision of mine to buy the broom of the system, then? i thought the opening passage was funny.

>>9838268
Objective quality is not a thing. Jesus Christ. I thought you people read philosophy?

>>9838268
Explain how you objectively qualify a book

>>9839147

Broom is just fine if you want a brilliant college student's strong Pynchon impression and take on Wittgenstein. Thing is, DFW's later work was so much more

>>9835566
Whether you like the content of IJ, it is undoubtedly a piece of art. Granted, I've only read, IJ, Good Old Neon and his essay on Pomo Television culture (will eventually get to Broom and Pale King once I can work up the herculean effort required to read another novel like that)., so perhaps his other works are better. One of my tutorials while studying abroad at Oxford was on IJ, and I can say that having formal direction (as well as writing assignments) definitely helps when reading it.

That being said, I had tremendous difficulty getting through the Gately half of the novel, perhaps because I have never done drugs and I had a fairly cushy upbringing (and therefore could not relate to Don or any of his peers). I also found Hal (and the Incandanzes in general) to be more creative characters, while the halfway-house residents were all just losers that had a weird kink in their mannerisms (Like Lenz's obsession with knowing the precise time while being afraid of clocks). I think the first time I attempted the novel, my freshman year, I stopped at that section in the first hundred pages written in, like, ebonics, just because I was already overloaded on plotlines and the improper English pushed me over the edge.

Gravity's Rainbow is also a true piece of art, I think, but I can't speak of it because I similarly have trouble getting past the first hundred pages without losing it. I've only tried twice, and each time, I've stopped at the narrative surrounding the characters having kinky oven-related encounters, and I'm not even sure I'm remembering that correctly.