Nov 16
Today’s post is kind of like my 20 Questions series, but with more of a specific focus.
If you could ask a famous author one question, what would you ask him or her? It’s that simple.
To get things rolling, I’ll start with questions I would ask to 10 famous authors (either dead or alive):
I love it when writers make up funny crap—especially when they create strange words.
Twice during this 101 Books journey, I’ve encountered the term “howling” used in a humorous way.
The first time was during David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. When a character had the “howling fantods,” they had the “creeps.” You might call it the “willies” or the “heebie jeebies.”
Here’s an example of the howling fantods in context from the novel:
I can’t think of one thing, maybe other than breathing, that I would, of my own free will, do for 24 hours.
Of all the things I would not do, somewhere in the upper portions of that list would be to watch a 24 hour play of Infinite Jest.
Wait a minute, you ask…Infinite Jest has been adapted into a play? Why, yes. Yes it has. Leave it to our German friends. An expiremental theater company in Berlin, Hebbel am Ufer, embraced this epic undertaking—with mixed results, if you read Aaron Wiener’s review on Slate.
Yesterday, David Foster Wallace would’ve been 50. He’s one of the authors that I’ve slowly grown in appreciation for since I started this blog. And judging by my tag cloud on the home page, I’ve probably talked about him more than any other author.
When I think of an author like DFW, a guy who wrote the beastly novel that is Infinite Jest, I assume he must have been into heady novels like Ulysses, that his daily reading list probably consisted of Chaucer and Homer, that he would read Faulkner on his lunch break.
But maybe not. Before he died, DFW made a list of his top ten favorite books for a compilation of favorite books of famous writers. I’ve got to say—they aren’t quite what I expected from DFW, but that makes him all the more intriguing.
Here is his top 10:
This week, I’m revisiting some of my favorite posts from 2011 while I take a one-week break from writing and simply focus on reading and spending time with my family. This post was originally published on May 11, 2011. 101 Books will return live on Monday January 2. See you then!
***
What just happened?
That’s the first question I asked myself after reading the final word of Infinite Jest. And while that might seem like a bad question to be asking oneself at the end of a 1,000 page book, it wasn’t unexpected.
I’m not sure I could count how many times I asked myself “What just happened?” while reading David Foster Wallace’s masterpiece over the last six weeks. It happened, like, a bunch of times–enough to be qualified as a recurring theme in my head.
It happened enough for me to say Infinite Jest is supremely frustrating at times–the loose, non-linear plot, the $10 words, the pure effort that the book takes to read.
But is that the point? Is that what David Foster Wallace was after? Did he want to make you work your butt off to read this book?
This week, I’m revisiting some of my favorite posts from 2011 while I take a one-week break from writing and simply focus on reading and spending time with my family. This post was originally published on April 13, 2011. 101 Books will return live on Monday January 2, 2012. See you then!
***
Since I started 101 Books, I recall tearing up only once while reading–that was during one dreadfully depressing passage in Rabbit, Run.
It’s been awhile since we talked David Foster Wallace on the blog, and I kind of miss it.
So, even though I’ve long since finished with Infinite Jest, I thought I’d revisit Mr. DFW today and take a look at an entertaining letter he wrote to an editor at Harper’s Magazine. His letter is in reference to an essay he wrote for Harper’s about Franz Kafka.
Remember the grammar quiz that DFW gave to his college students? He’s a grammar nazi if I’ve ever seen one, but DFW also proves that you have to know the rules to break the rules. And you also need to be able to explain your reasoning to your more-than-likely Grammar Nazi editor.
Have you ever heard of this thing called music videos?
I heard that they were a popular thing back in the 80s and 90s on a channel called MTV. Anyway, some bands still make these “music videos,” The Decemberists being one.
The band was so inspired by Infinite Jest that they made a video depicting one of the most memorable scenes in the book–the kids at the tennis academy playing Eschaton.
May 13
Wow. I’ve written a lot about this book. That’s what happens when you write a blog about reading through 101 books. You’re going to write a lot about the ones that take a long time to read.
Here’s a little rundown of all the Infinite Jest and David Foster Wallace-related posts over the last month or so. Take a trip down 101 Books memory lane.
May 12
Continued from Part One.
Reviewing Infinite Jest is proving to be possibly more difficult than reading it.
This is such an unconventional book. If I’m honest with you, I didn’t understand all of it. But I doubt anyone does on a first read-through. Three days after finishing, I’m still thinking about it, trying to run through plot connections in my head.
A friend told me that Infinite Jest is really a book that needs to be read more than once. A 1,000 page book that needs to be read again? Really? For now, I’ll have to pass on reading this one again. But I know I’ll be thinking about it for awhile.
Reading Infinite Jest is like being transported into another universe–not unlike Tolkien’s Middle Earth. Of course, it’s set in a world we know, but it’s a massive world filled with deep, moving characters. Hal, Orin, Gately, Himself, the Moms, Joelle–the list goes on.
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