Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“Classic – a book which people praise and don’t read.” Mark Twain.
“Infinite Jest,” written by David Foster Wallace, was published in 1996. It has been described as a modern classic. Time magazine included the novel in its list of the 100 best English-language novels for the years 1923-2005. The title of the novel comes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the famous scene in which Hamlet holds Yorick’s skull aloft, remembering the jester as “a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy…”
For me, “Infinite Jest” falls into the company of ‘Reading Achievements,’ one of those weighty tomes that require a serious commitment from the reader. Trust me when I say that, at 1088 pages, this encyclopedic novel requires some effort. Think James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” or Roberto Bolaño’s “2666.” I believe that more people begin these works than finish them. I can hear the reader ask: “Why should I bother?” There are novels that offer great reward for the effort expended. The three listed above, for me, fit that bill.
There is a more political, a more socially radical answer to the question of why a reader should go to the bother of immersing themselves in a long, complicated novel. We live in a world of electronic links, of instant gratification as long as it doesn’t take up too much of our time. We must scroll off to the next article, the next meme, the next cute kitten gif. Facebook links for news article show banners that list reading times for the article contained: two minute read, four minute read. We are in danger of becoming a bite-sized society, completely devoted to the next instant and no more. Which, coincidentally, links us into the plot for “Infinite Jest.”
The novel is set in a grim future world; a corporate dystopia. Months on the new calendar are named after sponsored products. Toxic waste dumps cover entire regions. Woven through the tangled strands of Infinite Jest is the “Entertainment,” a film so gripping to viewers that they lose all interest in anything else. They cease to eat, to drink, and they die; eyes still glued to the screen. The Entertainment is deadly, so deadly that a group of wheelchair-bound radicals will do anything to get their hands on it. These shadowy and absurd assassins follow the members of the Incandenza family, whose patriarch was the creator of the film. Hal Incandenza is the youngest son, the opening focus of the novel, and the nearest thing to a central character that exists in this novel.
The cast of characters comes from the tennis academy where young Hal trains, a group of addicts and alcoholics from the Boston streets, the aforementioned wheelchair assassins, the other members of the Incandenza family, and the government forces that are also seeking a copy of the deadly Entertainment. But now we are come to the cautionary tale, the warning to the reader: David Foster Wallace was in no hurry to tell his story.
Just as with the work of James Joyce, there are entire scholarly volumes devoted to this novel. Those works exceed the scope of this review by orders of magnitude. I do, however, have a small primer to offer, a bit of a guide, or roadmap if you will. You, the reader, are standing in an open field, freshly mown grass stretching away in front of you as far as you can see. At your feet is a strand of yarn, brightly-colored, with bits of shell and twigs woven in here and there. You begin to follow the strand, walking across the field, not really knowing exactly where you are going, but enjoying the walk. Another strand of yarn appears, paralleling the first. The strands do not intersect, but they catch the eye; interesting, compelling, or bizarre. Yet another strand appears. By now, the reader is far from the starting point, the colored strands stretching behind. Suddenly, one of the strands crosses another. There is a mental click, and a pattern begins to take shape amongst the tangle of seashells, twigs, and yarn. The reader continues walking forward, hurrying a bit. Two more strands cross each other, becoming one. Pieces of the puzzle fall into place. And so it goes, a sort of linear Easter Egg Hunt that stretches over six football pitches laid end-to-end. Whether the hunt is worth it of not is the prerogative of the individual reader.
In one of my worlds, the world of addiction, reading “Infinite Jest” offers a bit of bragging rights. Readers will have to look far and wide to find a more realistic, or grimmer, portrayal of a hard-core addict’s life in recovery. The scenes that take place in Alcoholics Anonymous meetings (and NA meetings) are brutal, realistic, and compelling. The nature of addiction is one of the many themes addressed in this sprawling, dark, and complex novel.
In conclusion, this is not a novel for every reader. That is simply a statement of fact. For some readers, completing Infinite Jest could be a milestone. If you are a reader who is up for a compelling challenge, a dark, fractured narrative, this may be your book. I recommend this novel to those of you who are willing to embark on a strange literary journey.
And, in a quick pause for the cause…
