tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2991343547887142385.post4995134468045674496..comments2024-02-24T20:29:17.083-05:00Comments on MINDFUL PLEASURES: Finite Notes on INFINITE JEST : part 2BRIAN OARDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00695622618831825498noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2991343547887142385.post-61566182531808993302011-06-10T00:05:59.427-04:002011-06-10T00:05:59.427-04:00For reasons unknown, the above comment was sent to...For reasons unknown, the above comment was sent to my spam filter, where I just found it.BRIAN OARDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00695622618831825498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2991343547887142385.post-79540205408674818842011-03-20T23:07:30.371-04:002011-03-20T23:07:30.371-04:00Hi Brad,
I just stumbled upon your blog after fin...Hi Brad,<br /><br />I just stumbled upon your blog after finishing IJ this afternoon, which I have to say felt something akin to the sensation expressed in the exultant Irish AA member's scatalogical monologue. Looking for somewhere to turn, and not ready to binge on the mountain of goodies on the Infinite Summer website like poor old Fax, I found this post thoroughly enjoyable. Especially illuminating, for me anyway, was were the final points about the ellipsoid structure and the relationship of the Enfield House members of ETA as being the same side of the same systematic dependent coin,<br /><br />Just a couple points to throw onto yours. I think you're spot on about reading away from DFW's insistance that IJ5 is all about optics, especially when considering the mythology of the death-mother system introduced in Gately's hospital bed. I thought this mythology heavily informed the novel's views on family structures as essentially corrupt and perverse systems, as well as giving an eternally large scope to the ellipsoidal understanding.<br /><br />Secondly, as a filmmaker, I couldn't help but read IJ story with an amputated third act. Not that the third act doesn't exist, but that it's been exorcized in the detached, technical way of Bresson, Goddard and J.O.I. himself (no pun intended). Having not read too many post-modern novels, I'm not sure whether this connection to New Wave film is intentional, but I find it certainly serves the novel's underlying theme about the ubiquity of entertainment. I enjoyed your take on the novels "ending", but when I closed the book I found my understanding to be much darker. In its own self-conscious way, I think the story can almost be seen as a pre-apocalyptic fabel, with the horror and destruction that amass at the book's fringes as the totality of the missing third act.<br /><br />Anyway, having no one else to discuss the novel with, I very much enjoyed your post and look forward to checking out the rest of your site.Zimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12000654457801423570noreply@blogger.com