Is Infinite Jest about addiction?

At the core of Infinite Jest is a story about addiction and the different ways that people find themselves hooked. Wallace’s key argument is that to be human and alive is to be addicted to something, and the real power comes in choosing to what you might find yourself beholden.

Is Infinite Jest dystopian?

While many science fiction novels contain portrayals of corporate dystopias, Infinite Jest stands out for the fact that the corporate dystopia it depicts is so close to the reality readers actually inhabit.

What is the entertainment in Infinite Jest?

Entertainment is a powerful element of Infinite Jest’s America. The novel takes a suspicious, if not entirely condemnatory attitude toward entertainment. In the world of the novel, entertainment is an often dangerous force, a phenomenon to which people are compulsively drawn and which can even be used as a weapon.

What drugs did David Foster Wallace abuse?

Wallace denies ever having been a heroin addict, but he does cop to a frightening amount of occasional drug use: acid, cocaine and black tar heroin, plus heavy drinking and marijuana consumption. He emphatically disconnects his drug use from any sort of glamour or creative imperative.

How long did David Foster Wallace take to write Infinite Jest?

According to D.T. Max, Wallace’s biographer, Wallace “learned to erase passages that he liked from his hard drive, in order to keep himself from putting them back in.” 7. It was hyped like crazy before it was published.

What is Onan Infinite Jest?

In the future of Infinite Jest the US, Mexico and Canada have come together as the Organization of North American Nations (ONAN), and William Beutler has created a print of ONAN’s seal.

Who is Don Gately?

Don Gately, a former thief and Demerol addict, and current counselor in residence at Ennet House. One of the novel’s primary characters, Gately is physically enormous and a reluctant but dedicated Alcoholics Anonymous member.

Is Infinite Jest a difficult book?

At more than 1,000 pages – with copious footnotes – Infinite Jest is a famously difficult read. It is the Gen-X Ulysses that even those like me, who consider themselves DFW superfans, are nervous to attempt, many preferring to feed their devotion with his essays and short stories.

Did David Foster Wallace go to therapy?

In the end, though, what mattered most was probably that the intoxicated Wallace was no longer writing successfully, which left open the hope that a sober one might. Wallace saw a therapist and went to meetings. He detoxed from the alcohol.

Does Infinite Jest have a lot of footnotes?

Infinite Jest is a novel by American writer David Foster Wallace. The novel has an unconventional narrative structure and includes hundreds of extensive endnotes, some with footnotes of their own.

What was Wallace’s working title for Infinite Jest?

I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is!” Wallace’s working title for Infinite Jest was A Failed Entertainment.

Is Infinite Jest good for You?

A man who reads Infinite Jest can be fooled into thinking he is more intelligent than other people. The book, for all its virtues, is the crystallization of effortless superiority. Listen to the language his staunchest defenders use.

Is infinite jest based on a true story?

Infinite Jest draws explicitly or allusively on many previous works of literature. As its title implies, the novel is in part based on the play Hamlet. Enfield Tennis Academy corresponds to Denmark, ruled by James (King Hamlet) and Avril (Queen Gertrude).