Infinite Jest | Infinite Jest

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...

Infinite Jest | Infinite Jest

At a glance:

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