Low Traffic, IJ, & Infinite Jest

[Bonnie Surfus ENG]

I'm a little slow.  Care to give me a new-and-improved-jumbo-sized-clue?

Bonnie

> I don't know if anyone from Marin County is on Pynchon-l, but up there, 
> "IJ" doesn't mean _Infinite Jest_.   One of the things I'm enjoying as I 
> read the non-Marin "IJ" is that the narrator'll make these rapid shifts in 
> diction.  One moment he'll  be using words that send me running to the 
> dictionary, and then along comes a  phrase like: "one sneaker up on the 
> sofa's square frayed fabric arm-thing...."  (p.272)  Now I'm wondering if 
> this is supposed to convey a subtle shift in point-of-view, like suddenly 
> we've gone from the vocabulary-rich omniscient narrator down into the 
> head of some "mere character" like D. Gately.    If it's not some such 
> shift, then it must just be DFW's narrator indulging in some sort of 
> self-mockery, recondite vocabulary-wise.   Sort of like TRP's shifts from 
> realistic description to pie fights and rocket limericks.  
> 
> I told a woman I know that I was reading a new book entitled _Infinite 
> Jest_, and she recognised the source of the title right away.  When she 
> explained it to me, I felt awfully stupid.  DFW does include hints here 
> and there for those of us who are a little slow.   Duh....        -jm
> 
>