Infinite Jest (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: David Foster Wallace
- First Published: 1996
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: Early in the twenty-first century
- Setting: New England, Arizona, and Washington, D.C.; Quebec, Canada
- Principal Characters: Hal Incandenza, Don Gately, Marathe, Orin Incandenza, Pemulis, Charlotte Treat, Schtitt, Mario Incandenza
- Genres: Long fiction, Science fiction
- Subjects: Culture, Future, Obsession, Substance abuse, Storytelling, Death or dying, Drug addiction or addicts, Joy or sorrow, Tennis
- Locales: Washington, D.C., Arizona, New England, Quebec, Canada
In Infinite Jest, main character Hal Incandenza recalls his own father telling him that:
talent is sort of a dark gift, that talent is its own expectation; it is there from the start and either lived up to or lost . . . leaving you yourself in a kind of feral and flux-ridden state with respect to talent . . . avoid thinking about any of this by practicing and playing until everything runs on autopilot and talent’s unconscious exercise becomes a way to escape yourself, a long waking dream of pure play. . . . The irony is . . . you . . . become regarded as having a...
[The entire page is 2203 words long]
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