David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest: A Reader's Guide, 2nd Edition

I bought this book hoping that it would help me read more deeply into Infinite Jest, a book I have read before and aspire to complete a second time. The reviews of Burns' book here suggested that it may or may not be helpful. With that vague summary I concur, in that for some patient and committed readers the reader's guide will be very useful, for others it will be irritating and not terribly useful. I place myself in the first category, although after working hard with Chapters 1 and 2, I was in the second.There can be no doubt that Stephen Burn has studied David Foster Wallace's deeply, knows the works very well and recognizes that a writer as rich and profound as DFW is operating on many different levels, some of which are obvious, many less so. In that sense he should be, and indeed is, a valuable guide. Indeed one of his achievements is to offer in Chapter 3 an analysis of Infinite Jest which dissects a complex structure within the novel which makes good sense, but which is far from obvious. For that alone this book is well worth reading. This is offered in support of his general argument that DFW was a consummate master of structure and narrative and not just someone given to rambling and digressing and name-dropping, as is sometimes suggested by critics. I had already reached that view but it is good to hear it from someone with a deep appreciation of DFW's works.At the same time Stephen Burn is an academic, and his prose is occasionally marred by the obscurity considered acceptable, even necessary as a sign of profundity in the academy. I can certainly deal with that, but some readers will be puzzled or annoyed. This is particularly evident in the first 2 chapters, but Burn does suggest that some people may wish to focus on Chapter 3.I am assuming that this book was written for students of literature or people with an interest in the growing academic literature on DFW's work. There are plenty of courteous references to other scholar's work, and the bibliography appears comprehensive, although this is a slim tome. Additionally the chronology of Infinite Jest is unravelled, and this may help some readers through the gyrations of the novel. Indeed you could argue that readers should try harder to follow the chronology, rather than let some of the timing just slide by in a kind of blur - guilty as charged.This book is fine achievement in its own right. Infinite Jest does not suddenly stand revealed as a fairly straightforward fable. It shows the extraordinary complexity of the task which DFW had set himself, forces one to think again and again about new themes and issues in the text, and above all encourages one to return to the novel. Indeed I found myself thinking about a third reading !

It was readable and helpful, especially the forty or fifty pages devoted to the novel and the timeline at the end. But I think the subtitle, "A Reader's Guide etc." is misleading. Those forty pages are an extended essay on important aspects of the novel, but the word "guide" suggests that the reader will receive a page by page map of the novel's full complexity. Some day, an annotated edition of Infinite Jest might be written and would be greatly appreciated by this reader. Stephen J. Burn's book is very readable. I enjoyed it. But I would have liked more on Infinite Jest.

Useful, and fun to read if you haven't gone back to the novel for a while.

It's pretty good, but no "Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake" or "James Joyce's Ulysses". Its really only got one chapter on the Infinite Jest text itself. It does have some great insights in that chapter about the book's tricky chronology and it does highlight some key relationships you might otherwise miss. I just wanted a little more.

Lots of really good writing but the tumult of it, the manic propulsion makes the thousand pages a real effort. Great praise for his knowledge but I prefer old fiction to post-metafiction. The promise that the volume shows unfortunately has come to a terrible halt.Perhaps we can talk later.

I didn't realize this was a guide to the book. :( It's now donated to the local library.

What a great and comprehensive review.

My grandson had wanted this and he was very pleased to get it. aid he loved it!

This book is clearly misnamed, perhaps a third of this book pertains to "Infinite Jest", the rest a somewhat rambling Brownian discussion of Wallace's work and his influences. This is disappointing as one has the sense the reviewer left many issues of the magnums opus "on the table". To add insult to literary injury, this book is actually more expensive than the work it reviews.

It offers some insight and interesting observations, but to call it a "Reader's Guide" is misleading. It shouldn't be read with the book, but instead afterwards, and don't open it before you've finished the novel. There are sections that aren't about Infinite Jest that are kind of interesting but not entirely relevant. And there was at least one obvious oversight that should have been caught for this second edition.