tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2991343547887142385.post2045939490704264177..comments2024-02-24T20:29:17.083-05:00Comments on MINDFUL PLEASURES: Finite Notes on INFINITE JEST : part 1BRIAN OARDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00695622618831825498noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2991343547887142385.post-81496873725495161512012-07-03T11:28:08.871-04:002012-07-03T11:28:08.871-04:00I am experiencing a desire to abandon IJ. I am at...I am experiencing a desire to abandon IJ. I am at page 100. A little self-description is perhaps relevant re my lack of connection to this work. I am in my mid-50s and read almost no fiction at all. However, I do read a lot, and have(for my engineering job) developed the discipline of not giving up on "demanding" material. I am also entirely untouched by depression, drug use, and overt feelings of dislocation / alienation. In fact, I would say that I am happier than my life circumstances would justify, and have been that way all my life.<br /><br />Why this personal story? In short, I wonder whether IJ really only resonates to those who have a certain kind of personal history. There is no intended value judgement here - I am entirely open to the possibility that I am "happy" largely because I live in a kind of "avoidance" mode, unconsciously deciding not to tangle with certain issues and problems. Again, I am not consciously aware of such a mode of living, but I acknowledge its possibility.<br /><br />In any event, I am interested in your (and others) thoughts about whether IJ appeals to a certain "personality type" and is very difficult for others to identify with the novel. It is interesting that you - a person who clearly is far more interested in reading fiction than I am - struggled with the book at first, but then found it satisfying later on. Is there any advice you can offer re a "mindset" that might make the project less daunting.<br /><br />A very good friend of mine is a huge DFW fan, and I would, all others things being equal, like to finish the book.Andrew Hhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12926076762507549864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2991343547887142385.post-45848771628589301222012-02-03T13:37:10.088-05:002012-02-03T13:37:10.088-05:00let me apologize now for comments that in tone wil...let me apologize now for comments that in tone will sound condescending at best, and pedantic at worst. i love the history you provide on your attempts to read ij and especially your honesty in presenting your opinions that arose at the time of the failed events...a topic that most lit crit guys would wave off as frivolous, their turgid disembodied egos unable to even begin to fathom that the putrid mayonnaise on their advertisers delight sandwich has given them a case of the runs that is seriously i<br />pacting their ability to discern pynchon from pinchoff...<br />i violently disagree with you about the erdedy episode but again dig the fact that you are willing to take it on. that dfw places it so upfront has to be of the utmost importance. our agreement on that might in fact trump our disagreement as to why. in that regard im being pretty nasty though because our reasons couldnt be farther apart. thank you for a setup on the order of ronald reagan in his iq 90 persona fielding a slow rolli g grounder to short and say "well, now there you go again." dfw's marijuana addiction as embodied in erdedy and get ready, kate gompert, is wallaces most painful and denial ridden admission/avoidance cry for help. a marijuana addiction so akin to pure obsessive/compulsive disorder that admitting toit ( the first half of the first step in aa) is an emasculationof the highest order,which is why erdedy is saddled with the painful but more masculine qualities of ocd that involve a tortured mathematical precision. gompert gets the pure unadulterated suicidal mania WHEN she quits smoking pot!<br /><br />where i also agree with you very strongly is your passionate perhaps hysterical) admission that hal has to be. the narrator throughout ij. but we both know he is not. one of my early insights about ij was that the on-the-spot narrator was always present at the scene and therefore the narrative voice, if this were true and that wallace didnt f it up ( he doesnt) would limit perspective, experience, vocabulary, presentation quite frankly very much in the way you describe it per the lexical rape of gately. i resent your characterization of gately it is too dismissive and reeks of a lack of subtlety and discernment having to do with topics like education versus native i telligence, socio-economic strata versus caste, surface versus the irrational etc...im not so sure that the wraith is a wraith; im much more inclined to simple explanations like hal very shrewdly and wisely asks for and gately too both shrewdly and wisely accepts to be hals aa sponsor. at least one interpretation of the chro ogically late but early placed "poor yorrick" scene which finds gately and hal gigging for joi as a mask wearing john wayne looks on. iirc jois head wasnt much of an option given he blew it up in a rigged microwave. the fact that gately is saddled with typical blue collar predisposition and is too busy to help poor hal because he is eating is nothing more than hals guilt. hal confessed to oi that moments prior to discovering his dads null head that he smelled something very appetizing emanating from the kitchen. gately and hal digging up jois head is simple metaphor for doing aa stepwork with a sponsor and hals frustration that a sponsor can only do so much...stueyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16857062778279654869noreply@blogger.com