"See, Spiro Agnew here has two little arms: they point, they suggest."
Begin: Page 298 (“Poor Tony Krause had a seizure on the T.”)
End: Page 312 (“…the first tangible evidence of an anti-O.N.A.N. ill will way worse than anything aroused by plain old historical Separatism, up in Québec.”)
Start Date: 11/12/10
Finish Date: 11/18/10
Endnote Profile: 9 notes, including #110, a 16-pager with its own notes
This week I particularly envy those of you with iPads and such, as I am not relishing the prospect of 16 pages of tiny type. An audio version would be nice, but none seems to exist; how would that work, anyway, with the notes? Never mind, I’ll get through somehow. See you on the other side.
I am tortured once again by footnotes. This week’s are especially tedious and yes, I’ll say it, boring. Why oh why, David Foster Wallace, did you not incorporate the lengthy footnotes into the main text? Reading with a magnifying glass is not my forte. I am sworn off footnotes for awhile but not the book yet.
For me the footnotes aren’t really a problem, which surprises me. I thought they would. The thing is that his mind (and text) is so scattershot and all over the place on every page that the footnotes seem just more of the same. And some of them are damn funny. I do agree about the tiny text, which is why I tend to switch from the paper book to the iPad version when I get to them, which maybe decreases the annoyance factor for me.
I agree with Jeff that many of the footnotes could work just as chapters (or sections, or however we’re meant to refer to them).
That said, the mega-footnote at the end of this week was my favorite part of the reading. In addition to the the meta-footnotes, Hal rails at his brother’s absurdly complicated strategy of seduction (#7): “What’s it like? It’s like suborning somebody into helping you desecrate a tomb they don’t know is empty.”
“…seizures hurt, is what few civilians have occasion to know (pg. 305).” Wallace seems to be drawing a line of similarity between social withdrawal (and the components that accompany it, i.e. drugs) and going to war or serving in the military. Up to this point in the book I’d not seen it that way, but it totally makes sense. Victims can not truly be understood by people who have not endured the same set of circumstance, yet they want to be heard. So what is our responsibility as witnesses – to be entertained, to listen, to learn, to act? At least the question exists.
Just the other day someone on my Twitter feed was saying he is enjoying IJ but he thought that the endnotes break the narrative flow and detract from the impact of the novel. I couldn’t disagree more; I never realised this until reading IJ but there is incredible realism in endnotes, because in life you don’t just incorporate ‘stuff’ into neat paragraphs, conveniently amalgamated into whatever you are thinking/saying at any given time. You break up the flow, you interrupt, you may go back and add at the end of a conversation. I now insert endnotes into everything I write, and it’s not an affectation, more like a revelation!
Back to the main story, the chapter about Poor Tony Krause is one of my favourites. His situation is so horrible you can almost smell it, you can see the Armenian pawnbroker kicking him out together with his infested, skanky wig. And the line “His symptoms themselves developed symptoms” pure is DFW genius, how can such a tragic scene make you smile? But it does!
oh the smell of Old Spice and Vitamin B….what does Vitamin B smell like?
Footnote 110 made an impression! I think that will be something I will still remember about this in years to come – I mean the literary device. I am sure I would have skipped the notes if I had been on my own on this. Come to think of it, I probably would have dropped the book long ago if I were on my own. In any case, I liked the brotherly banter – very funny. I think Orin needed to work up to talking about his latest ‘Subject’. He has been really duped. The plot is beginning to thicken a bit – Finally! I am not sure what they are after from Orin, but I think that it is fortunate he is confiding in Hal. I expect Hal will emerge as a hero in some way. We shall see.
Funny that Orin calls his conquests “Subjects” when what he really means is the opposite.
The Poor Tony withdrawal scene was reminiscent of Trainspotting. Terrible experiences that I’m thankful to have never been through.
One thing I find interesting about the use of the notes, 110, the filmography and the other long one about the AFR (number escapes me right now, sorry) in particular, is that they seem to be the place where the most revealing information is put forth. It’s an interesting mechanic for a novel.