Thursday, October 27, 2011 Lethbridge
6:00 am
The temperature is +3 C, with a high predicted of +6 C. From the Environment Canada website: Today Sunny. Wind west 30 km/h gusting to 50. High 6. Tonight Clear. Wind west 20 km/h becoming light near midnight. Low minus 9. Normals Max: 10°C Min: -3°C.
9:00 am Literature
I have done a little browsing on the web using the keywords "infinite jest". As a result I now have a sense of the novel. One unique feature is the timeline. Each year is given the name of a product, which is bid on by corporations. Here is the resulting timeline (the number in [] refers to the sequential section number). Thus the first section actually occurs near the end of the story.
| <2002 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
| Hal | 3 | 2, 4, 7, 9 | 1 | |||||||
| Mario | 4 | |||||||||
| Prince Q__ | 5 | |||||||||
| Wardine, Clenette | 6 | |||||||||
| Mildred Bonk, Bruce Green | 6 | |||||||||
| Orin | 8 | |||||||||
| Don Gately | 10 |
- Harold Incandenza (Hal)
- [1] Hal, age 18, in his last year of high school, is being interviewed for admission to a university in Arizona. He is a top-ranked junior tennis player. He also has a photographic memory for the meaning of words. His understanding of the interview process is very perceptive although his attention to detail is bizarre. At the end he has some form of seizure and babbles incoherently. He has been in residence at the Enfield Tennis Academy since he was 7.The interview is to clarify the discrepancy between his standardized test scores which are subnormal and his desire to go to university. But Hal's perception of the interview indicate that he is abnormally intelligent. He not only remembers detail, he understands what he has read whether in language, philosophy, or mathematics. But he seems to be socially backward. "Yet he has some trouble with excitability in conversation." He had a previous episode a year earlier when he was restrained and taken to Emergency in a straight jacket.
"I'm not just a boy who plays tennis. I have an intricate history. Experiences and feelings. I'm complex. ... I'm not a machine. I feel and I believe. I have opinions. Some of them are interesting."
The section ends with, "So yo then man what's your story?"
- [2] A detailed description of Hal (?) waiting for a woman to deliver some marijuana. He is clearly an addict in need of a fix. He had been in treatment 2 years earlier. This is a superb section describing the situation through the eyes/mind of an addict.
- [3] Hal, age 10, in a meeting arranged by his father, with a child psychologist. Hal quotes from the OED and says that he often gets beat up when he does that with his friends. Hal's father is an avant-garde film maker who founded the Enfield Tennis Academy. Hal finally realizes that the psychologist is actually his father, wearing a disguise.
- [7] Hal & Mario talk before going to sleep. They clearly have a close brotherly bond.
- [9] Hal, hiding in the underground pump room, is getting high on marijuana at the Enfield Tennis Academy. He leads a very secret life and almost no one suspects he is a drug addict. Mario's chief job is to film the tennis players so they can analyze their technique.
- [1] Hal, age 18, in his last year of high school, is being interviewed for admission to a university in Arizona. He is a top-ranked junior tennis player. He also has a photographic memory for the meaning of words. His understanding of the interview process is very perceptive although his attention to detail is bizarre. At the end he has some form of seizure and babbles incoherently. He has been in residence at the Enfield Tennis Academy since he was 7.The interview is to clarify the discrepancy between his standardized test scores which are subnormal and his desire to go to university. But Hal's perception of the interview indicate that he is abnormally intelligent. He not only remembers detail, he understands what he has read whether in language, philosophy, or mathematics. But he seems to be socially backward. "Yet he has some trouble with excitability in conversation." He had a previous episode a year earlier when he was restrained and taken to Emergency in a straight jacket.
- Mario Incandenza
- [4] Hal's younger brother.
- Orin Incandenza
- [4] Hal's older brother who lives down the hall in the Enfield Tennis Academy
. - [8] Now a placekicker for the Pheonix Cardinals. Generally seems depressed with no real purpose in life.
- [4] Hal's older brother who lives down the hall in the Enfield Tennis Academy
- Prince Q____
- [5] A medical attache from Saudi Arabia who begins watching an unlabeled video entertainment casette which had just arrived from Phoenix with no return address but just the phrase Happy Anniversary.
- Wardine, Clenette
- [6] Two poor black girls living in a violent family situation. Not sure if they are an important part of the story.
- Mildred Bonk, Bruce Green
- [6] Two high school tough kids. Not sure if they are an important part of the story.
- Don Gately
- [10] A 27-year old burglar and oral narcotics addict who kills a man (unintentionally) while engaged in a robbery.
- [10] A 27-year old burglar and oral narcotics addict who kills a man (unintentionally) while engaged in a robbery.