These post will be CHOCK FULL OF SPOILERS for the reading for that week (Just in case you didn't already know that!). I think knowing this will stop those of us that aren't at a certain place from reading on and will enable those of us who are writing to do so without worrying if someone knows that fact or not. If you are reading ahead and want to post about the pages ahead please wait and if you want to talk about other books, not Infinite Jest and are giving spoilers please indicate that in some fashion...even a *spoiler* before the comment would be nice.
And, finally, if there is anything I can do to make this run more smoothly please don't hesitate to message me on here, on twitter or on Goodreads and I'll see what I can do.
Let's begin the discussion...
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Congratulations Kate!!!
House-keeping:
1] If you haven't signed up officially, please do so here.
2] Catch up on all of our IJ stuff and things here.
3] Come join in on the convo even if you haven't caught up with the reading. Just comment on the post for the weeks you have read. I miss the conversation.
3] Come join in on the convo even if you haven't caught up with the reading. Just comment on the post for the weeks you have read. I miss the conversation.
I'd really like to discuss how Infinite Jest is Postmodern literature! According to Wikipedia (I'm kind of cringing for using Wikipedia as a source), Postmodern literature "is hard to define. . . . [It] tends not to conclude with the neatly tied-up ending as is often found in modernist literature." Infinite Jest is truly hard to define! Where I'm at in the novel, I have no idea what the central plot is.[SPOILER ALERT] I've read about Hal and his adventures at ETA; transvestites; burglars murdering (not truly intentional of course) an innocent man; the Wheelchair Assassins discussing not only important business, but also philosophical topics; and much, much more--yet I still can't identify a plot binding the whole novel together.
ReplyDeleteThis of course leads to another element of postmodern literature--fragmentation. The only technique that Modernist lit and Postmodern lit share is fragmentation (other than that, Postmodern lit is a reaction against Modernist lit). The narratives are definitely fragmented; I want them to become coherent, yet this fragmentation actually forces me to come reading (Will these stories come together? And if they do, what will connect them?).
And, I can't vouch for the end of the novel,-- since I haven't got that far--but I have a feeling the ending won't tie up loose ends.
I use Wikipedia as a source all of the time, especially for simple definitions. I would say that this novel is especially Post-Modern and one of the definitive of its period. I mean after this book was written many talk about how it changed how we write and think and interpret literature. What do you think?
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