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/lit/ - Literature

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19276289 No.19276289 [Reply] [Original]

Is this thing as retarded as it sounds?

>> No.19276391

>>19276289
Yes, but that's good

>> No.19276392

>>19276289
Aye

>> No.19276415

>>19276289
Yes. In other words, not at all.

>> No.19276612

>>19276391
>>19276415
I hate your ironic bullshit

>> No.19277567

>>19276289
I enjoyed the ride and I'm glad I stuck with it. I don't think I could read it twice.

>> No.19277606

Start with The Pale King.

Also, peep these digits, lad.

>> No.19278040

>>19276612
Truly, irony is the song of a bird that has come to love its cage.

>> No.19278687

Can I pick up chicks by namedropping Infinite Jest?

>> No.19278727

>>19276612
if you hate irony you will love infinite jest

>> No.19278758

I'm 200 pages in and really struggling. There's a lot of information and characters being introduced to me and I'm not sure what's important and what isn't. Please tell me it gets better bros.

>> No.19278767

>>19278687
No

>> No.19278772

HOW DO I READ ON E READER HOW DO I REDEEM

>> No.19278981

>>19278772
It should be easier on an e-reader no? At least on my phone it’s quite easy on e-pub. This has gotten me thinking about the inherent irony in the fact that when the endnotes are technologically transformed into Hyperlinks the once painful flipping is replaced with a process so simple that the point of the endnotes are somewhat lost. Jeez

>> No.19279018

>>19276612
No, you don't

>> No.19279355

>>19276289
Its pretty good actually

>>19277606
Why would you start with a book thats that unfinished? I swear that thing was barely a third of the way done. If you read the notes at the end about what he had planned to get done its obvious that what we have is only the setup for the rest of the book. Only worth reading if youve read everything else by him and need more, even The Broom of the System is worth reading over Pale King (that said I fucking loved that book)

>>19278758
Keep at it! It all started falling into place for me around the 300 page mark, it can be a slog but also sooo rewarding, super touching at parts, brutal in others, good mystery, good drama, very good book when alls said and done.

>> No.19279357

>>19278687
If youre self deprecating about it, and its some artsy girl. being into snob shit can be pretty attractive if youre not a snob about it

>> No.19279359

>‘I read,’ I say. ‘I study and read. I bet I’ve read everything you’ve read. Don’t think I haven’t. I consume libraries. I wear out spines and ROM-drives. I do things like get in a taxi and say, “The library, and step on it.” My instincts concerning syntax and mechanics are better than your own, I can tell, with due respect. ‘But it transcends the mechanicsI’m not a machine. I feel and believe. I have opinions. Some of them are interesting. I could, if you’d let me, talk and talk. Let’s talk about anything. I believe the influence of Kierkegaard on Camus is underestimated. I believe Dennis Gabor may very well have been the Antichrist. I believe Hobbes is just Rousseau in a dark mirror. I believe, with Hegel, that transcendence is absorption. I could interface you guys right under the table,’ I say. ‘I’m not just a creãtus, manufactured, conditioned, bred for a function

>> No.19279390

>>19279359
Dude that bit is so damn sad when the meaning of that section becomes clear. I really love how earnest that quote is, so sweet

>> No.19279478

IJ, like all of Wallace's longer work, consists of virtuosic, moving passages mixed in with dozens of pages of unbearably tedious text dumps.

>> No.19280456

>>19279355
thats really sad

>> No.19280507

>>19279359
This bit was in my dream just 30 minutes ago, I was back in school with an insufferable teacher who I used to get into it with on occasion. She tried to insult me with a quote from IJ thinking I had not read it (something she actually did more than once) and I quoted this bit and then went on tirade about how it alludes to later parts showing how Hal is indeed creatus, manufactured, conditioned, bred for a function. That it is her and her generation doing it and doing it to us, that she and her generation twisted education into performance and chasing the carrot dangling from a stick, never actually teaching because they had never actually learned, just blindly chased the carrot of education.

>> No.19281296

>>19278772
make a bookmark for the endnotes

>> No.19282221

>>19276391
>yes, and that's a good thing (and here's why)

>> No.19282277

>>19278758
there's basically a full novel's worth of exposition at the start, like first 250ish to 300 pages is crazy. after that the real narrative focused on hal, gately, and the entertainment becomes a lot more focused (still with plenty of asides and rants.)
keep at it--some of the funniest parts of the book are right around the corner for you.