I guess I’m considered a lit bro, I try to read new things and challenge myself, but admittedly I’m most drawn to books that appeal to my demographic, i.e. white, male, millennial type stuff including Infinite Jest.
slappygrey on
Can’t we just have reading be an established part of our culture instead of a recurring fad?
Grungemaster on
Michelle Zauner wrote the new foreword? That’s pretty cool.
ModernArgonauts on
Performative males are making infinite jest cool again?
I’ll take it I guess.
frozenandstoned on
I read it for the first time actually last year, it’s a good book, but it’s not for everyone. I have massive ADD so the constant juxtaposition of everything going on around the characters in the book was something I loved, but other people hate it.
celtic1888 on
The same Litbros that saw Fight Club in the movies, claimed they read the book and then totally missed the actual meaning of the film ?
Personal-Ladder-4361 on
You know critiques here are one thing. Like everyones hate on Ayn Rand… but its funny when I see posts here saying “men should read more!”… then you guys trash men for reading.
Infinite Jest is a good book. Period. It might not be to you and thats ok. Infinite Jest is no different than Rainbows Gravity to half of reddit lit people. Just let people read.
jcrescent on
It helps that it’s freakishly (and somehow unspokenly) prophetic and pitches profound revelations about modern life at a time where it seems there’s nothing left to be said. I’d also argue The Pale King is just as good on these two points.
lunarjellies on
This book has been sitting on my shelf for like 10 years. I think I tried reading it, went ???, and then put it back on the shelf. Maybe time for me to give it another shot – I didn’t know there was internet drama about it though.
TheSprained on
When I read it I took a kitchen knife and sliced it into three parts. I then took the footnotes and interspliced them into the main text wherever seemed reasonable. I then lit a gauloises and leaned back in a garden chair. And shat myself.
> Zauner writes that she undertook the task of reading and writing about Infinite Jest as part of an anthropological exercise to understand “what it means to be a David Foster Wallace reader, which, at its worst, has come to signify misogyny, and at its best, someone who’s just slightly annoying.”
Or maybe someone who’s just interested in addiction and clever use of language?
justpubtipstuff on
“Thing that was hated a decade ago, somehow popular again due to extended absence”
Ok_Field_5701 on
I think if I read as many pages of Infinite Jest as I did articles and posts about it I could’ve read it multiple times by now. Jesus Christ do people obsess over this shit.
ButtSluts9 on
Every copy comes with a complimentary fedora and a pair of brown corduroy pants.
Vesploogie on
Goddamn these corporate accounts. They’re infesting the last remaining usable subs with this clickbait shit.
19 Comments
The notoriously challenging book is being rereleased for its 30th anniversary. Its fandom is annoying, sure—but at least they read.
Read the full article: [https://www.wired.com/story/infinite-jest-is-back-if-only-litbros-were-too/](https://www.wired.com/story/infinite-jest-is-back-if-only-litbros-were-too/)
I guess I’m considered a lit bro, I try to read new things and challenge myself, but admittedly I’m most drawn to books that appeal to my demographic, i.e. white, male, millennial type stuff including Infinite Jest.
Can’t we just have reading be an established part of our culture instead of a recurring fad?
Michelle Zauner wrote the new foreword? That’s pretty cool.
Performative males are making infinite jest cool again?
I’ll take it I guess.
I read it for the first time actually last year, it’s a good book, but it’s not for everyone. I have massive ADD so the constant juxtaposition of everything going on around the characters in the book was something I loved, but other people hate it.
The same Litbros that saw Fight Club in the movies, claimed they read the book and then totally missed the actual meaning of the film ?
You know critiques here are one thing. Like everyones hate on Ayn Rand… but its funny when I see posts here saying “men should read more!”… then you guys trash men for reading.
Infinite Jest is a good book. Period. It might not be to you and thats ok. Infinite Jest is no different than Rainbows Gravity to half of reddit lit people. Just let people read.
It helps that it’s freakishly (and somehow unspokenly) prophetic and pitches profound revelations about modern life at a time where it seems there’s nothing left to be said. I’d also argue The Pale King is just as good on these two points.
This book has been sitting on my shelf for like 10 years. I think I tried reading it, went ???, and then put it back on the shelf. Maybe time for me to give it another shot – I didn’t know there was internet drama about it though.
When I read it I took a kitchen knife and sliced it into three parts. I then took the footnotes and interspliced them into the main text wherever seemed reasonable. I then lit a gauloises and leaned back in a garden chair. And shat myself.
Somehow, Infinite Jest returned
[Bypass the paywall](https://archive.ph/20260130161335/https://www.wired.com/story/infinite-jest-is-back-if-only-litbros-were-too/)
Article is a little bit prickly.
> Zauner writes that she undertook the task of reading and writing about Infinite Jest as part of an anthropological exercise to understand “what it means to be a David Foster Wallace reader, which, at its worst, has come to signify misogyny, and at its best, someone who’s just slightly annoying.”
Or maybe someone who’s just interested in addiction and clever use of language?
“Thing that was hated a decade ago, somehow popular again due to extended absence”
I think if I read as many pages of Infinite Jest as I did articles and posts about it I could’ve read it multiple times by now. Jesus Christ do people obsess over this shit.
Every copy comes with a complimentary fedora and a pair of brown corduroy pants.
Goddamn these corporate accounts. They’re infesting the last remaining usable subs with this clickbait shit.