Sipped Ink vol 1 issue 2

Infinite Jest pp22-94

‘Untitled. Unfinished. UNRELEASED’

How’s it going? As you’re reading this you’re probably somewhere around the 10% mark of the novel - and if you’re anything like me you found it quite an induction.

One of the little idiosyncrasies I like is the occasional false start sentences. For whatever reason those little clusters of conjunctions that crowd around the start (and, less frequently, middle) of some sentences make me smile:

‘And so but since the old CBC documentary’s thesis…’

&

‘and but so when the attaché does get home, at like 1840h’

&, my favourite:

‘And then also, again, still, what are those boundaries…’

There are also a couple of instances of a famous Wallace-ism:

‘Roaches give him the howling fantods.’

&

‘both of whom give Avril a howling case of the maternal fantods.’

It’s telling that this phrase is attributed, in the second case, to Avril Incandenza since Wallace himself inherited the usage from his own mother, on whom the Moms is based and from whom he also inherited his love of grammar. I think it’s these two points taken together that explain what I find so enjoyable about the moments when Wallace’s language falters a little on the page: we know by now the linguistic acrobatics and convolutions he’s capable of, so there’s something appealing about when he intentionally lets that slip.

And speaking of the acrobatics: how about that page length sentence over pp 58-59!? (‘And the bound, wheezing, acetate-clad Canadian…’) That thing is a beast, and there’s even a couple of endnotes in there for good measure.

We should mention the endnotes. By now we’re hopefully all used to them — notes 24, and 40 are tests on that score and I’d be interested to know what you made of those in particular. Buried in note 24 are some really interesting things: mentions of previously encountered scenes (It Was a Great Marvel That He Was in the Father Without Knowing Him), and of course five abortive(?) attempts by James Incandenza to make something called Infinite Jest. It’s worth noting that Wallace’s intended title for the novel was A Failed Entertainment, but his publishers wouldn’t let him have it (even as a sub-title).

My favourite use of an endnote so far though is with number 36 giving a substantial translation of a German word, before returning you to page 83 for a neat punchline.

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So that brings us up to date. Thanks everyone for your progress reports, comments, and favourite lines via Twitter. Keep them coming and I’ll retweet / post them here. Enjoy the second full week of reading, maybe with a Toblerone.