The novel does not have a clear beginning or end, but rather starts and finishes in the middle of the action, creating a circular and recursive effect. The novel also employs various literary techniques, such as parody, satire, metafiction, intertextuality, and stream of consciousness, to create a rich and diverse text that challenges and engages the reader.
Reception and Legacy
Infinite Jest was a literary sensation when it was published, receiving rave reviews from critics and becoming a bestseller. The novel was also nominated for several awards, and won the Paris Review Aga Khan Prize for Fiction.
The novel has since been recognized as one of the most important and influential novels of the 20th century, and has been included in several lists of the best books of all time, such as Time magazine’s list of the 100 best English-language novels published between 1923 and 2005.
The novel has also inspired many writers, artists, and scholars, who have analyzed, adapted, and paid tribute to Wallace’s work. The novel has also generated a devoted fan base, who have organized events, festivals, and reading groups to celebrate and discuss the novel.
Conclusion
Infinite Jest is a novel that will make you laugh, cry, and think. It is a novel that challenges and rewards the reader with its originality, complexity, and humor. It is a novel that explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to dominate our lives, about how our desire for entertainment affects our need to connect with other people, and about what the pleasures we choose say about who we are.
It is a novel that is both a tragi-comedy and a philosophical quest, a novel that bends every rule of fiction without sacrificing its own entertainment value. It is a novel that is an exuberant, uniquely American exploration of the passions that make us human, and one of those rare books that renew the idea of what a novel can do.
