Infinite Jest Diary #2

The format of today's diary may be the format I choose to employ from now on, or it might not. My progress, a thought, a quote, and a list of new words may be appropriate or not for future diaries. We'll see.

Progress: currently on page 112

A thought:
I'm realizing just how much Mark Z. Danielewski's book House of Leaves owes to Infinite Jest. The invented parameters, the narrative structure, the endnotes and exhibits - it's not pure imitation, but there is a definite lineage. I was reading someone recently who reminded me of DFW who predated him, and now I wish I could remember - to point out the other end of the lineage. I was recently at Amherst College's Archives & Special Collections, whose exhibition "The Novelists of Amherst" highlighted DFW along with his "circle" and "influences," the only influence of which I remember was Don DeLillo. And I can see that, too.

A quote:
"Which is why tennis is an essentially tragic enterprise...You seek to vanquish and transcend the limited self whose limits make the game possible in the first place. It is tragic and sad and chaotic and lovely. All life is the same, as citizens of the human State: the animating limits are within, to be killed and mourned over and over again." (p. 84)

I've read this quote about ten times, and have tried to think about what exactly is going on in it. When I read passages like this, which (even as tennis is being used as an internal metaphor) are referring to Life in a metaphorical manner, I can't help thinking that the author is also talking about writing. DFW was certainly a writer who pushed limits to destroy them, who commented on their destruction and their very existence. He was so thorough and exhaustive, seemingly obsessively so. It makes me admire but not envy him.

Words:

(and let me just say - I very much admire how DFW has an exact meaning he wants conveyed, and so goes and finds that exact word. Not an easy or quick process.)

1. Latrodectus mactans - Latin name for black widow spider (definition via University of Michigan)
2. leptosomatic (a.) Having a type of physique characterized by leanness and tallness.
3. prandial (a.) Of or relating to dinner or dining; relating to or occurring during a meal.
4. quincunx (n.) A pattern used in which objects are arranged in one or more groups of five, so placed that four occupy the corners of a square or rectangle and the fifth occupies its centre
5. varicocele (n.) Varicose condition or dilatation of the spermatic veins.
6. plosivity (n.) Descriptive of a consonant that is produced by stopping the airflow using the lips, teeth, or palate, and then suddenly releasing an outward flow of air.
7. teratogenic (a.) Relating to the production of monsters or misshapen organisms.
8. ephebe (n.) Among the Greeks, a young citizen from eighteen to twenty years of age, during which he was occupied chiefly with garrison duty.
9. creosote (n.) A colourless oily liquid, of complex composition, with odour like that of smoked meat, and burning taste, obtained from the distillation of wood-tar, and having powerful antiseptic properties.