{"id":3423,"date":"2020-04-06T02:53:06","date_gmt":"2020-04-05T18:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/?p=3423"},"modified":"2020-04-06T02:53:50","modified_gmt":"2020-04-05T18:53:50","slug":"the-drama-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/2020\/04\/the-drama-begins\/","title":{"rendered":"The Drama Begins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Now we’re getting somewhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I just reached the first episode break, seven pages in. The initial conflict is now clear. Our narrator, Hal, is an applicant to the University of Arizona on a tennis scholarship (though whether this is something he wants or his uncle wants for him is open for debate at this point) and he is being interviewed by a bunch of suits from the university to determine whether his academic credentials are fake or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DFW has done a good job of creating tension with this rather mundane scenario. As readers, we’re forced to question the veracity and motives of pretty much everyone in the opening scene, including Hal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I expect a good chunk of the early going will be devoted to sussing out who our narrator is, and whether he’s a reliable guide or not. We may find ourselves drowning here pretty quickly, with no lifeguard on duty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A line I was particularly drawn to: It strikes me that EXIT signs would look to a native speaker of Latin like red-lit signs that say HE LEAVES.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is Hal someone that really thinks about Latin when he sees an EXIT sign? He uses French as well, so maybe? Or is this simply a literary flourish from DFW. Either way, I’m intrigued. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But my dog looks bored so I’m going for a walk. Ta ta for now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You are reading my live blog of Infinite Jest. Start at the beginning<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now we’re getting somewhere. I just reached the first episode break, seven pages in. The initial conflict is now clear. Our narrator, Hal, is an applicant to the University of Arizona on a tennis scholarship (though whether this is something he wants or his uncle wants for him is open for debate at this point) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[648],"tags":[3017,3002,2343,3016,3001,3014,1834,3011],"class_list":["post-3423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-short_stories","tag-conflict","tag-david-foster-wallace","tag-dog","tag-exit","tag-infinite-jest","tag-latin","tag-tension","tag-university-of-arizona"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3423"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3424,"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3423\/revisions\/3424"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}