Infinite Jest – David Foster Wallace (1996)
A sprawling, ambitious novel that redefined contemporary literature, Infinite Jest intertwines multiple narratives in a near-future North America (reconfigured into the Organization of North American Nations). The story orbits around three primary threads: the dysfunctional Incandenza family (particularly tennis prodigy Hal and his filmmaker father James); residents of a nearby addiction recovery house; and Quebecois separatists obsessed with a lethal film cartridge called “the Entertainment.” Wallace’s maximalist style—with its footnotes, digressions, and encyclopedic detail—explores addiction, entertainment, and the human search for meaning in a hyper-stimulated world.
For Fans of Literary Complexity:
- Gravity’s Rainbow (Thomas Pynchon, 1973) – Another encyclopedic postmodern epic.
- 2666 (Roberto Bolaño, 2004) – Multi-narrative exploration of violence and art.
- The Pale King (Wallace, 2011) – His unfinished novel about bureaucratic tedium.
Also available the first edition of Consider the Lobster signed by David Foster Wallace.
