Infinite Jest
1996
Literary fiction
A sprawling, encyclopedic novel set in a near-future North America, following students at a tennis academy, residents of a halfway house, and various agents pursuing a film so entertaining it renders viewers catatonic. At once a satire of entertainment culture and a serious meditation on addiction, depression, and the search for meaning, it is one of the defining works of late 20th-century American literature.
Discussion
- 66. Raymond Carver: Cathedrals even for those without eyes to see
- 58. Moby Dick finale: Ahab Derangement Syndrome
- 54. Crashing out of Gravity's Rainbow: A postmortem of our first DNF
- 53. DYEL wrapped: Most beloved and hated books of 2025
- 52. Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow: It's not rocket science
- 50. A Portrait of the Artist: James Joyce on the difference between tasteful nudes and porn
- 46. Anna Karenina FINALE: Revenge of the Reddit Atheists
- 38. DeLillo's White Noise: psy-opping ourselves on death and po-mo
- 37. The Odyssey, part 2: Failsons and deadbeat dads
- 33. Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, part 1: A legion of horribles
- 32. DYEL Christmas party: The most beloved and hated books of 2024
- 31. The Moviegoer: In which we escape a deep existential malaise
- 29. Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle: Autofiction and autofellation
- 27. Chekhov urself before u wreck-ov urself (The Little Trilogy)
- 22. Susanna Clarke's Piranesi: Gaslight gatekeep girlboss
- 21. The Tragedy of Hamlet: The O.G. annoying theatre kid
- 20. Albert Camus' The Fall: Signalling, scrupulosity, and pathological self-awareness
- 19. Philip K. Dick's paranoid classic Ubik: Fluttering at the windowpane of reality
- 11. Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, part 3: Was David Foster Wallace a hideous man?
- 10. Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, part 2: If you can fake sincerity you've got it made
- 9. David Foster Wallace's Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, part 1: Weaponised therapy-speak
- 8. Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, part 3: We finally get to the fucking lighthouse
- 7. Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse, part 2: Portrait of the autist as an old man
- 6. Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse, part 1: Skill issue
- 5. Borges' Garden of Forking Paths: a ramble through the multiverse
- 4. John Williams' sleeper hit Stoner: Finding perfection in mediocrity
- 3. Michel Houellebecq's Map and the Territory, part 3: The world is weary of me and I am weary of it
- 1. Michel Houellebecq's Map and the Territory, part 1: Memeing big fat juicy asses into reality