Joelle's initial take on Himself's film work:
"Technically gorgeous, the Work, with lighting and angles planned out to the frame. But oddly hollow, empty, no sense of dramatic towardness - no narrative movement toward a real story; no emotional movement toward a real audience."
I wonder if the same can be said about the first 740 pages + notes + errata of this Failed Entertainment?
This is certainly what The Playwright thought of Infinite Jest before abandoning IT.
But I won't abandon IT. First of all because I love IT.
Second of all because I cannot judge IT until I see the end. IT has an end right? There is an end right? Or not?
Or will the end be some kind of joke - on the reader? - A jest? - As the exploded brilliance of David Foster Wallace continues to expand out - toward - a limitless universe?
Yes...the whole thing could be a joke within a joke, an ironic self-referential comment on itself. Wouldn't be surprising.
ReplyDeleteBut that's just fine, I think - in fact, that approach is more zen, more about the journey than the destination, less about the idea of progress or arc or structure than about just enjoyment of the space and time.
I'm not sure that when I finished IJ I had any clearer sense of its meaning or reconciliation than I'd had while mired in its murky depths, c. page 500-ish. Maybe that's why upon finishing I went back to the start and began reading again.
Now, years later, I'm left with the lingering sense of the book: the prose style, the humour, the compassion and understanding of the human condition, the characters (who can forget Randy Lenz, Ortho Stice, the Academy staff, Himself, Pemulis, Tiny Ewell, and so many others?), and of having dwelt for a time in a rich, if sad and ironic, world.
For more on others making this journey this summer, check out infinitesummer.org.
Thanks Abbot. Pinot alerted me to InfiniteSummer a while back but - as you know from my journey with this "novel" and from the way I live my life - I'm not really interested in trying to achieve the goal of finishing this (apparently) brilliant "novel" within set time parameters, ie: "the summer". I feel that IJ and summers in general are things to be savoured (not conquered) - and that is clearly also in keeping with what you say about a zen-like approach to reading.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, I am trying not to get too much input on the novel or on DFW, until I'm actually done reading it - though I haven't been too successful: the book and the author seem to be everywhere.
It'll be interesting to see what I conclude at the end. I love your comments on my posts but I guess ideally we'll get into much deeper discussions about book and author when I'm done.
Sounds kind of un-zen-like by me: trying to dictate to you; being so devoted the book's end.
But, I guess despite my provocative comments questioning whether or not IJ is a novel, I really do want it to be a real, compelling novel in the end. I actually don't want to have people telling me about what the book lacks.
So, I'm trying to be disciplined - avoiding the blog world as much as I can for now - for I do believe that after the FIRST reading I'll be full-bore into discussions in the ever expanding universe of Infinite Jest and David Foster Wallace.