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How to Read Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

Benjamin McEvoy

106,298 views

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📔Contents Page: https://cutt.ly/CmNhRY3
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Timestamps:
0:00 reading one of the most difficult novels
2:00 reading as exchange between consciousnesses
3:45 what is the story of Infinite Jest about?
5:30 the dystopian future of Infinite Jest
6:00 Organization of North American Nations/O.N.A.N.
6:30 President Johnny Gentle and the Great Concavity
7:00 when did David Foster Wallace write Infinite Jest?
7:30 what is subsidised time in Infinite Jest?
9:30 nightmare dystopia or contemporary comment?
10:20 why is the beginning so confusing?
11:20 who are the characters of Infinite Jest?
11:50 Hal Incandenza and Enfield Tennis Academy
12:40 David Foster Wallace on tennis
13:20 the filmography of James Incandenza
15:00 what is the entertainment in Infinite Jest?
16:45 is Infinite Jest a prophetic novel?
20:10 Québécois seperatists/The Wheelchair Assassins
22:00 Don Gately/Ennet Recovery House
23:40 Joelle van Dyne/Madame Psychosis
25:25 worshipping our corporate masters
26:40 we already live in a corporate dystopia
28:30 DFW on addiction as religious devotion
29:50 do we have the freedom to choose?
31:20 loneliness in comfort and easy pleasure
32:40 religious impulse and the death of God
33:40 the existential crisis of drug addiction
35:15 higher power in the twelve-step program
37:00 how do you know you’re addicted?
37:50 the essays of David Foster Wallace
38:30 David Foster Wallace teaching syllabus
39:10 David Foster Wallace and Stephen King
40:00 television, pop culture, postmodernism
41:10 irony and metafiction vs realism
42:00 being addicted to television/social media
45:30 rise of the postmodern hero of non-action
47:00 how we have lost the desire to think deeply
48:00 the battle of short vs long form content
49:00 great literature is frequently boring in places
50:00 Infinite Jest as antidote to instant gratification
50:40 do you have to read the endnotes?
51:45 jokes, parody and secrets in the endnotes
53:00 why you need two bookmarks for Infinite Jest
54:00 reading experience is like a tennis match
55:30 Infinite Jest as encyclopaedic novel
56:00 self-awareness and active reading
57:00 being addicted to obsessive thinking
58:00 is Infinite Jest difficult for the sake of it?
59:00 David Foster Wallace’s narrative style
1:00:00 how difficult is Infinite Jest?
1:01:00 modernism vs postmodernism
1:02:30 relationship between comedy and tragedy
1:04:00 sadness and humour of David Foster Wallace
1:05:30 Sierpiński triangle structure in Infinite Jest
1:07:00 iceberg theory and deformation in literature
1:09:00 DFW’s rationale for structure of Infinite Jest
1:10:30 the author-reader relationship in Infinite Jest
1:12:00 where does the title Infinite Jest come from?
1:14:00 Shakespeare’s Hamlet parallels in Infinite Jest
1:15:30 what is the meaning/point of life?
1:17:30 infinite play within parameters
1:20:00 choosing our freedom and meaning
1:21:20 David Foster Wallace’s tragic end
1:22:30 why should you read Infinite Jest?
1:23:30 recommended pacing for Infinite Jest
1:25:00 the joy of engaging with the book club
1:27:00 what is your experience with Infinite Jest?

20 Comments

@gummymarkers 2 years ago

Hello Mr. McEvoy, thank you so much for all you do! I'm 16 years old and about a year ago I was hospitalized for over three months and, to be honest, it wasn't the pain but the boredom that really got to me, as I was locked into the bed and literally could do nothing; it was here that I decided to try something new and I settled on reading The Stranger and The Picture of Dorian Gray, both of which I loved and got me wanting to read more and more, and so I stumbled upon your channel, which turned my budding interest in literature to something that I feel is my main passion right now! You make reading so interesting and after every one of your videos, even if it's not one that I'll be reading for a long time (Like Ulysses or Gravity's Rainbow or, now, Infinite Jest) I always come away from it feeling incredibly motivated and wanting more. I can't believe I'm saying this but after a while I started to take notes on my reading (making me feel like a true English professor LOL) and I've had some incredible experiences, biggest of all being Middlemarch which has got to me my favorite book of all time by a mile (though there are still so many books I've yet to experience!). So I just wanted to say thank you; to be honest I couldn't find your e-mail to write something like this so, while probably not appropriate, the YouTube comment section will do. None of my friends, or anyone I know for that matter, seem to be interested in these works, so your channel has now become a sort of solace for when I want to feel connected to people who share the passion; thank you so much and keep up the great work!

@FranklyItsMe 2 years ago (edited)

What I now notice - is that I have never seen an advert on Ben's channel. Wow. That just hit.

@24hourcoffee 2 years ago

Thank you for never having ads on your videos. You do a great service to us bookworms.

@R.L.Kramer 2 years ago

In my world, you doing a video on Infinite Jest is a big deal. Nobody in my life around me cares, but I am comforted by the thousands here with me. Kertwang, my friends.

@brreezy421 2 years ago

Read it in rehab. Great stuff. 2 years sober, not even an issue anymore

@pranavroh 2 years ago

I first read Infinite Jest when I was suffering from a horrific mental breakdown. I was an avid reader but I had never read anything postmodern and for some reason when my mind was rebelling against me and I was going through some of the darkest days of my life I decided to pick this book up and read it. I didn't read any guides, I didn't refer to any internet articles - I just read it all the way through. As I read it I was medicated and I healed - but when I think about it - this was the last challenging book I read for over a decade. I loved it but I was unable to attempt anything close to this ambitious again. My medication made it impossible for me to focus for a prolonged period of time and my relationship with reading felt brittle, a little like walking on thin ice.
I am off meds now, reading again ( East of Eden) and spending my free time listening to your videos on Youtube. It is an absolutely wonderful treat to be able to read again and I am hoping to pick up Infinite Jest once more in the future.
I would like to thank you and your videos for inspiring me to keep reading - it is a true balm for a troubled mind. Cheers!

@marnasorensen988 2 years ago

I surrendered completely to this book and loved every page.

@MariiaIsaeva-kj5kx 2 years ago

I am Russian and would like to correct the author of the video just a little. ❤
"Samizdat" is not necessarily secretly published literature, although in the Soviet Union, where every literary work was strictly censored, this term could have been defined as such. But in general, it is an abbreviation of the phrase "Self-published", so, it refers to any work that was published by the author independently without the help of large publishing houses, in other words, an independent publication. This word is still widely used in modern Russian.

@TheMovieWatcher99 2 years ago

This book completely invaded my life for 6 months and continues to haunt me through the subsequent days after finishing it. Though I felt I had understood a good portion of it (maybe 50%), reading some things - and after watching this lecture video - I believe myself to have understood maybe 15% of this mammoth of a novel. Cannot wait to re-read, this video has drawn me to pick up my copy and start flipping through it

@aamnainfebruary 2 years ago

You deserve all the praise in the world for making these hard books accessible to so many people. These are top quality resources and we are getting them for free. I never have the words to explain the impact you have had on my reading and life :’)

@ChristopherSLucas-hv7nz 1 year ago

The addiction idea from the novel is similar to Thomas Merton's quote "to live is to be addicted".

@Ericviking2019 2 years ago

AA says your higher power can be anything except You. It's a great program that has been working for me for 40 years.

@voza-mj8hv 2 years ago

By far the best exploration of IJ on this platform. Outstanding work Ben.

@jdparker9 2 years ago

Been reading this about five to ten pages at a time for two years. It’s a journey.

@jasonallison76 2 years ago

For me, the novel clicked at Eschaton. The world opened up after that.

@CrypticMusic 2 years ago

Thanks for this wonderful introduction. Infinite Jest was my introduction to Wallace and I found it baffling, hilarious, moving, profound, frustrating, and heartbreaking. I also realize I had an incomplete reading of it, as I listened to it in audiobook format and didn't realized that I missed all of the endnotes which were included as a separate PDF. I'm ready for a second reading now on paper. My biggest takeaway was that the structure mimicked the feeling of being addicted and not being able to reach that ultimate high: so many scenes build to a crescendo of maximum tension (I'm thinking of the street fight outside of the halfway house) but they never give you the resolution or release of dopamine that your body is crying out for. It is like Wallace is training you to be comfortable living without closure, which is something we only get in stories (whether literature, TV or movies) and rarely in real life.

@nathalie4529 2 years ago (edited)

Bonjour....Although not in a wheelchair, je suis une québécoise séparatiste. 😉I’ve been waiting for quite a long time to pick up this book. You picked my curiosity. When I first saw D. F. Wallace in an interview, I was so impressed with him, and he trully touched my heart. I read a few essays of his, and I loved Consider the lobster. Thanks for this great video.

I really very seldomly interact on social media. It’s just not for me, but I wanted for the longest time to let you know how much your content brought to me. I really appreciate your personality and the knowledge you generously share. The last few years have been quite rough for me, but literature has given me wings. I’ve been on such an enriching journey.

I've been a subscriber for around 3 years now. I’ve watched your channel grow to my greatest joy. You sincerely deserve it.

Un chaleureux merci pour tout ce que tu m’as apporté Benjamin.🌼

@idicula1979 2 years ago

Man this is a fucking deep book, thanks for the review. As I am not as much a reader of books, but about books.

@nenadmilenkovic-panic6079 2 years ago

I red 100 pages and realized that I need to wait winter to come.
The book is outstanding on so many levels.

@patchanonmk7137 2 years ago

Hello Ben! I've been waiting for this to come out! I picked this book up when I was in England at Waterstone and have been waiting to read it ever since. This is gonna be a huge challenge for me since 1. English is my second language 2. This far exceeds anything I've read in terms of both length and difficulty(The longest book I've ever read was The wind-up bird chronicle at about 600 pages, and I've held it dear ever since) And 3. I'm only fifteen... Which is probably too young to approach a work like this but I'll try anyway! I've join the bookclub a month ago after convincing my mother it's a good investment and have been enjoying your lectures and discussion. When I feel like listening to something I just pulled you lectures up(even about some books that I haven't read) and just enjoy it. I love hearing you being this passionate and talk about great literature, it makes me want to be as passionate as you some day too. Having you holding my hands through a work like this is very comforting and I'm looking foward to the lectures! Thanks again!