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Infinite Jest: Difference between revisions
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{{
{{Infobox book
[[File:infinjest_6721.jpg|frame]]▼
[[David Foster Wallace]]'s relentless [[Doorstopper]] of a novel, first published in 1996. Infinite Jest takes place in [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future|the not-too-distant future]], around the Enfield Tennis Academy and the neighboring Ennet House Drug and Alcohol Recovery House (redundancy ''sic'') in suburban [[Useful Notes/Boston|Boston]]. Before he died, James Incandenza, founder of the ETA and film auteur, created a movie so mesmerizingly entertaining that the master copy is being sought as a weapon by Canadian terrorists and the US government. Dealing with issues like the nature of the self, family, emptiness and absence, addiction and recovery, and the minutia of tennis, there's just no way to adequately summarize this massively complex novel here. With nearly 100 pages of end notes, this may be one of the only novels for which you will need to use two bookmarks simultaneously.▼
| caption = Front cover of the first edition hardcover
| author = David Foster Wallace
| central theme =
| elevator pitch =
| genre =
| publication date = February 1, 1996
| source page exists =
| wiki URL =
| wiki name =
}}
▲[[David Foster Wallace]]'s relentless [[Doorstopper]] of a novel, first published in 1996. '''''Infinite Jest''''' takes place in [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future|the not-too-distant future]], around the Enfield Tennis Academy and the neighboring Ennet House Drug and Alcohol Recovery House (redundancy ''sic'') in suburban [[
{{tropelist}}
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* [[College Radio]]
* [[Crapsack World]]
<!-- * [[Crosswicking]]: In-universe, ''Infinite Jest'' is a film so mesmerizing that the U.S. government is interested in weaponizing it. MOD: And just what trope is this redlink supposed to be? -->
* [[Dead Person Conversation]]: The wraith of James Incandenza may be visiting one or more of the other characters.
* [[Department of Redundancy Department]]: The Ennet House Drug and Alcohol Recovery House (''[[Running Gag|sic]]'').
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* [[Evil Cripple]]: Les Assassins des Fauteuils Rollents, a.k.a. The Wheelchair Assassins of Southern Québec.
* [[Eye Scream]]: {{spoiler|Again, what happens to Fackelmann}}.
* [[Fantastic Drug]]: The incredibly potent DMZ. Described as [[This Is Your Premise
* [[Fictional Political Party]]: President Gentle's Clean US Party. Yes, as in "[[Fun
* [[Footnote Fever]]: The story proper ends at page 981, with the remaining 96 pages being taken up by 388 end notes, some of which are several pages long, and a few more which have their '''own''' footnotes and/or end notes. Readers quickly figure out that the only way to [[I Think You Broke Him|avoid permanent damage]] is to use two bookmarks: One for your place in the main text, and the other for where you are in the end notes.
* [[Fun
** Also the 'Union of the Hideously and Improbably Deformed' (UHID), whose members wear a face-concealing veil in public.
** Let's not forget the Wounded, Hurting, Inadequately Nurtured but Ever-Recovering Survivors (WHINERS)
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* [[Intoxication Ensues]]: One of Pemulis' preferred methods for exacting revenge is spiking your food or drink with something mind-altering. The guys also consider spiking the cooler at a big event with the DMZ, but think better of it.
* [[Jerkass]]: Orin Incandenza.
* [[Jigsaw Puzzle Plot]]: There's no picture on the box, and at least half of the pieces ''seem'' to be missing, but since nobody actually knows how many pieces there are ''supposed'' to be...
* [[Lady Drunk]]: Gately's mother, for one.
* [[Le Film Artistique]]: Much of James Incandenza's filmography.
* [[Literary Allusion Title]]: [[Hamlet|Alas, poor Yorick...]].
* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]
* [[The Metric System Is Here to Stay]]: Wallace had a definite preference for metric units, and in his universe, they've become standard in the U.S. (probably as a result of ONANite integration).▼
* [[Mind Rape]]: The last time we see {{spoiler|Orin Incandenza}}.
* [[Mushroom Samba]]: {{spoiler|John 'No Relation' Wayne}} gets dosed without his knowledge, and this is hinted as one possible cause for {{spoiler|Hal's final condition}} as well.
* [[My Secret Pregnancy]]: Avril Incandenza was not aware she was pregnant with Mario until his premature and surgically assisted birth.
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** Orin counts as well.
* [[Serious Business]]: Tennis. But this is a tennis academy, after all.
* [[Shown Their Work]]: Contains more than the average human will ever want to know about tennis.
** Not to mention pharmaceuticals, in the end notes.
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* [[So Beautiful It's a Curse]]: It's hinted that this is the real reason Joelle wears a veil.
* [[Stepford Smiler]]: One aspect of Avril Incandenza. Someone tells a story about how when Orin accidentally killed her dog, she went on calmly acting as though nothing had happened in order not to upset him.
▲* [[The Metric System Is Here to Stay]]: Wallace had a definite preference for metric units, and in his universe, they've become standard in the U.S. (probably as a result of ONANite integration).
* [[Title Drop]]: The "Entertainment" is also titled Infinite Jest.
* [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]]: It's never specified, but from some references to characters' ages and the approximate beginning of "Subsidized Time," you can extrapolate that the plot takes place sometime in the first decade of the 21st Century, 10-15 years after the book was published. There is a reference to "the [[Rush Limbaugh|Limbaugh]] administration."
** And later a reference to a poster of Limbaugh "from before the assassination" (929).
* [[Unreliable Narrator]]
* [[Video Phone]]: Mockingly [[Discussed]] in a passage which describes how widespread videophone use made people increasingly concerned about their physical appearance, leading to most people wearing elaborate masks whenever they used the phone (and, later, just switching back to normal phones).
* [[Whole
* [[
* [[Zeerust]]: Although the popularity of cartridge rental anticipates Netflix, Wallace didn't seem to predict that people would rather do away with physical media altogether and just stream their entertainment.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Literature of the 1990s]]
[[Category:Lit Fic]]
▲[[Category:Infinite Jest]]
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