Attention To Detail

Pages Read: 194

Pages To Go: 784

Footnotes: 67 of 388

I don’t know anything about the general discourse surrounding Infinite Jest (other than it’s a difficult read), since I have purposely refused to read any criticism prior to my experiment. But I have to believe that one of the characterizing features of the novel is the level of detail that goes into the description.

As I’ve pointed out previously, it can be somewhat distracting, especially at first, because as modern readers we’re more accustomed to points of view that put us directly in the head of the narrator, and while most of Infinite Jest so far as been from the point of view of the various narrators of each episode, there’s no human alive that would think with such detailed description.

I suppose that writers have been struggling with how to accurately represent the human thought process while still maintaining narrative clarity for more than a century, as exemplified by Joyce. So it’s interesting to try and parse the reasoning behind DFW’s approach to point of view. Maybe I’ll have more to say on this topic later.

In the meantime, as challenging as it’s been to stay engaged with Infinite Jest, I can’t help but admire DFW’s command of language.

Vocab Word: Chintz printed multicolored cotton fabric with a glazed finish, used especially for curtains and upholstery.

You are reading my live blog of Infinite Jest. Start at the beginning.