“Infinite Jest” Has Turned Thirty. Have We Forgotten How to Read It? | The New Yorker

David Foster Wallace’s novel, in all its immensity, became the subject of sanctification and then scorn. But the work rewards the attention it demands.

David Foster Wallace’s novel, in all its immensity, became the subject of sanctification and then scorn. But the work rewards the attention it demands. January 26, 2026 Wallace’s great novel proposed that the compulsive, addictive character of America, not least its addiction to entertainment, could best be resisted through the engaged reading of fiction. It was a book about addiction that offered itself as a kind of counter-addiction.Photograph by Richard Burbridge A few stanzas from the end of Chaucer’s long poem “Troilus and Criseyde,” the author interrupts his story to indulge in a…

saved by

• Samuel Lo
• Kate Wang

related reading

• Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace Wikiinfinitejest.wallacewiki.com
• ‘Infinite Jest,’ the Internet, and the Politics of Reading | Los Angeles Review of Bookslareviewofbooks.org
• A Conversation with David Foster Wallace By Larry McCafferydalkeyarchive.com
• Patricia Lockwood · Where be your jibes now? David Foster Wallacelrb.co.uk
• I read Infinite Jest - alex wennerbergalexwennerberg.com
• The Rewriting of David Foster Wallacevulture.com
• David Foster Wallace - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
• He wanted more attention - by Naomi Kanakiawoman-of-letters.com
• no one told me about proustpersonalcanon.com
• I like 'em thickexperimental-history.com
• 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - The New York Timesnytimes.com
• Matt Lakemanmattlakeman.org