Infinite Jest might kill me.
The section begins with a French-Canadian terrorist meeting with a U.S. agent. The French-Canadian’s terrorist agency knows he’s meeting with the U.S. agent, although it’s unclear whether his loyalty is actually to the U.S. or the Canadians. His questionable loyalties are explained in the most deliberately confusing language.
At one point in the chapter the text references a foot note.
That footnote briefly talks about French Canadian terrorist cells before referencing a different footnote.
That footnote is about the main character Hal (a young student athlete who plays tennis. I haven’t mentioned him yet because he’s tenuously relevant). Well, it’s not actually about Hal, it’s about one of his classmates attempting to plagiarize an article on French Canadian terrorists.
We are now four levels deep. Chapter -> footnote -> second footnote about plagiarism -> the article being plagiarized.
The third layer deep, the student committing the plagiarism, mentions that he has a cream on his forehead. We are told the chemical makeup of the cream but not what it is or does. Apparently this is described in foot note A (a parallel footnote layer to the article) but footnote A is nowhere in sight.
The article being plagiarized has its own footnotes, starting at 4, which are at the bottom of the page as expected. Just when I thought the literary structure was so convoluted and stupid it had to be a joke, they finally tell the story of a game where young Canadian boys play. It is a pulse pounding story of chicken. The children are supposed to jump across train tracks right before the train would hit them. Jump too early and you’re ostracized. Jump too late and your grease under the trains wheels.
It is a harrowing a touching story about peer pressure, toxic-bravado, and the way we pass down our trauma to those who come after us.
Finally, when it’s over, several pages later, footnote an appears telling us the plagiarist’s forehead cream is for acne.
After going 4-5 layers deep, we finally resume the main story about the two spies. What originally seemed ridiculous is now sad. The Canadian spy’s circumstances seem incredulous but they are his life. It isn’t funny. Jumping in front of the train cost him his legs, he’ll never walk again.
And in that somber moment, the text reveals there are roving herds of radioactive gerbils.
Infinite jest is going to kill me.
turnnoffyourmind
blakekathryn
vaporwave
jacobvanloon
amandla
germansingergirl
gummygunk
yousharknotpass
