This is the first entry. Each of us should state who we are, why we are reading this book, and what we hope to get from the work.
I’m Mr. Kirchenko, English teacher at Smithtown High School. I started the group because I had many students that expressed interest in reading it and I never have. I have read much of Wallace’s shorter works and feel he is one of the more important writers from the late 80’s on. I have heard many great things about this book and I am looking forward to attacking it.
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...i hope im posting in the right place. anyway, hey guys, this is alex. I just finished reading "Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde, im ready to tackle the mammoth over there on the shelf. "Dorian Gray", compared to Infinite Jest, definitely deserves the short-story quotation marks. Its funny to judge just by the titles: "A Picture of Dorian Gray," "A Portrait of An Artist as a young Man;" that these artists really worked to draw a picture of life that had meaning, characterization, boundaries. Then Wallace comes along and says, just by the title, "all of this, all this categorizing and defining and theorizing, its all just an infinite jest in the midst of the true chaos that is this world." It seems like a fresh breath, at least according to the title. Im really excited to attack the mammoth and find out more
ReplyDeleteI tried to get lucas involved. unfortunately, he gave it a half-hearted attempt and then stopped; the fact that we're sharing the same book may have played a factor in his decision as well.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the prospect of a blog query looming over the horizon demands that i wait, but i would still like to share some of my immediate reactions to the beginning of the book right now, to start some action. Paul/Mr Buletti/Mr K-any responses?
The very opening scene, with Hal in the interview, rang like an upgraded version of Khafka's metamorphosis. Hal comes forward to say the most beautiful and perfectly worded statement of individuality and depth imaginable-its like the kind of speech of daydreams-but it falls on deaf ears. In fact, I think Hal is the smartest, deepest character in the book so far (pg 65ish), and all characters seem to revolve in comparison to him. The jittery, superficial thoughts of Erdery, apparently able to smooth talk anyone, immediately and directly contrast his depth. However, Hal's communication breakdown with adults contrasts his normal communication with his brothers. Perhaps Wallace means to comment on the estrangement of today's youth to today's adults.
Hello
ReplyDeleteThis is Mr. Buletti. First, I apologize for the tardiness of my introduction. I am reading this book because I enjoy DFW's writing. Though he is often given to much prolixity, he knows how to write. Last year, I read Broom of the System and found it to be a raucously good read. When I heard Mr. Kirchenko was going to read it, I jumped at the chance. With a tome like Infinite Jest, it seems that motivation will be important, hence the blog.
Ah, I figured it would be a good idea to post here... but it seems like many a day too late. I do hope you will forgive me. My two friends and I read The Broom of The System for the final assignment in English, due to the fac that Infinite Jest was much to long to read in a few weeks. Since I am terribly werid, I came up with the idea of reading more of the "classic" and widely known novels and literary works over the last school year and throughout this comming year, so it simply happened to be Sir Wallace's time when we needed to pick out the books for the reading groups. He's quite the humorous writer, and his dialogue is extremely well written. (something that I have trouble doing, so everyone just turns into mutes in anything I write.) All in all, before I go into a rant, his writing style i admirable and Infinite Jest was a fine novel so I am looking foward to posting here. I will be on a bit of a hiatus for the necxt two weeks as I am going to be in the far east in Japan.
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