FW: Re: Low Traffic, IJ, & Infinite Jest

[Andrew Dinn]

JM writes:

> I wrote...

> > 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

> Then Andrew Dinn wrote...

> Right! It's a reference to Tristram Shandy, no?

> Nope.  If it were only Tristram Shandy, which I've never gotten all the way 
> through, I wouldn't have felt so dumb.  This may be case of like when I 
> asked another woman if she knew where the title of "Vanity Fair" 
> (magazine) came from, and she said it was from a Thackeray novel.   As far 
> as I'm aware, the first place "Vanity Fair" appeared was in _Pilgrim's 
> Progress_.                          -jm

Oh, of course! Now I remember. It comes from Saxa Grammatica the
famous Danish treatise on language (aka "Words, words, words").
Tristram Shandy merely mentions this work in passing (you have to read
the small print).


Andrew Dinn
-----------
And though Earthliness forget you,
To the stilled Earth say:  I flow.
To the rushing water speak:  I am.