semckibbin's Infinite Jest reader's diary and personal odyssey (because it's all about me)
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1semckibbin
I made it to page 23 and fell asleep just after a 5-page paragraph about Erdedy's careful preparation for a marijuana bender. I assume the chapter is entitled Year of the Depend Undergarment because if Erdedy wore a Depends he could get get high and cut out his excursions to the bathroom and just shit where he lights up. I suppose an alternative would be just to move into his bathroom.
It's interesting how Wallace chooses to start his novel. He has tennis "genius" Hal Incandenza describe an eight-person meeting consisting of him, his half-Uncle Charles Tavis and Aubrey deLint, and, I think, five members of University of Arizona Administration.The scene requires the reader to imagine what all eight people are doing and where they are. Incandenza writes well and can be extremely detailed about parts of his experience while being very unsure about other parts. Apparently he has some form of autism (I'm guessing) because what he thinks he says is not what everybody else hears. In any event, he's not below average---he's sub-normal.
BTW, on p. 18 Wallace writes "He sat and thought and waited in an uneven X of light through two different windows." Wouldnt that be physically impossible since there is only one sun? So this has to be artificial lighting coming through the windows, right?
It's interesting how Wallace chooses to start his novel. He has tennis "genius" Hal Incandenza describe an eight-person meeting consisting of him, his half-Uncle Charles Tavis and Aubrey deLint, and, I think, five members of University of Arizona Administration.The scene requires the reader to imagine what all eight people are doing and where they are. Incandenza writes well and can be extremely detailed about parts of his experience while being very unsure about other parts. Apparently he has some form of autism (I'm guessing) because what he thinks he says is not what everybody else hears. In any event, he's not below average---he's sub-normal.
BTW, on p. 18 Wallace writes "He sat and thought and waited in an uneven X of light through two different windows." Wouldnt that be physically impossible since there is only one sun? So this has to be artificial lighting coming through the windows, right?
2absurdeist
The naming of the years as chapter headings were mystifying to me at the outset. What you describe w/Erdedy certainly fits the theme of infantilism that permeates the entire novel.
I had never considered autism as a possibility for Hal, regarding his communication problems, though I can see that interpretation early on. On page 10-11 there's a brief interlude to Hal's, Orin's, and their mother's past, that hints at a possible source of Hal's later communication problems also. Pages 27-31 will also indirectly describe it, his lack of communicating, but not really offer any clues as to why. Parallels with the beginning of Kafka's The Metamorphosis have frequently come up in the criticism of this intro section.
I'm going to look at p. 18 regarding the light -- I had never noticed that before. Good stuff, semckibbin!
I had never considered autism as a possibility for Hal, regarding his communication problems, though I can see that interpretation early on. On page 10-11 there's a brief interlude to Hal's, Orin's, and their mother's past, that hints at a possible source of Hal's later communication problems also. Pages 27-31 will also indirectly describe it, his lack of communicating, but not really offer any clues as to why. Parallels with the beginning of Kafka's The Metamorphosis have frequently come up in the criticism of this intro section.
I'm going to look at p. 18 regarding the light -- I had never noticed that before. Good stuff, semckibbin!
