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In some ways, IJ is a very postmodern book, but in other ways it represents a pretty significant departure from it. Starting with his essay, 'E Unibus Pluram', DFW makes a conscious attempt to turn away from the irony, depthlessness, and the waning of emotional affect that broadly characterises postmodern fiction. I think this intention runs through IJ, which uses postmodernism as a kind of platform from which he attempts to progress.


A good example of this is the AA stuff in the book. The way out of the crisis of addiction for many characters is to sincerely believe in a obviously constructed set of maxims. They have to pray, even where they aren't sure if they believe or what they believe in - because it's the act of praying, of sincerely engaging with the idea of placing faith in something, that corrects the crisis of addiction I discuss in my essay. Parts of the book such as this are distinctly not post-modern - and I would argue that they are what places Infinte Jest as a forerunner of post-postmodern fiction.


This book is worth a read if you're interested - it actually has an essay about much of what I write about here:
https://www.amazon.com/Metamodernism-Historicity-Postmodernism-Radical-Cultural/dp/1783489618

The Bible is very difficult. I’m listening to this right now and Prager does a really good job of breaking down the stories in the Bible in a way that we, as modern people, can understand:

https://www.amazon.com/Rational-Bible-Genesis-Dennis-Prager/dp/1621578984/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1MZ0UOHZL0D4A&keywords=prager+genesis&qid=1563417412&s=books&sprefix=Prager+g%2Caps%2C199&sr=1-1

If you don’t know Dennis Prager, here is a very good interview:

https://youtu.be/j0GL_4cAkhI

I watched it with my sister. We are both really compassionate and, by the end, we were both crying because it was so moving. It’s an hour. Peterson talks at unusual length about his belief in God.

book that explains the concept JP is talking about here:


https://www.amazon.com/Power-Positive-Thinking-Norman-Vincent/dp/0743234804/ref=nodl_

I’ve seen a 20 page summary version before, can’t find it.

You can probably find a free pdf online,

https://www.amazon.com/One-Renegade-Cell-Science-Masters/dp/0465072763

> How cancers begin and spread, by the scientist responsible for the major recent research breakthroughs

> Cancer research has reached a major turning point. The amount of information gathered in the past twenty years about the origins of the disease is without equal in the history of biomedical research. In this book one of America's most eminent scientists explains to the general reader the step-by-step process by which cancers arise, and more importantly, how they spread.

> Robert Weinberg explains how normal genes control the conventional growth of the cell, how, in their mutated form, they enable cancers to arise, and why these genes have such life-and-death power over us. Drawing from information that simply was not available until recently, One Renegade Cell explains this insidious disease as no other book as ever been able to do.

My man, this book was written for you.

https://www.amazon.com/All-Things-Shining-Reading-Classics/dp/141659616X

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You can get the gist of it in this interview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpQHxJQrg1E

But I do highly recommend the book as the authors use Wallace in the same way you described. They ultimately contrast Moby Dick to Infinite Jest and suggest the answer to the meaning crisis might share something in common with the worldview of the Iliad.

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I'll check out your essay on Monday when I have the time.

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