Shapiro finally called time on the Q&A session and asked a final question of her own, about the authors’ influences. Wurtzel mentioned Speak, Memory, and then Carr talked about reading Infinite Jest, but said he’d not read the footnotes. “Who does?” asked Karr. “I’m supposed to be in it and I never read it.” Wurtzel made it clear that she had read all of Infinite Jest.
Capital: Talking about addiction, recovery, and writing with David Carr, Mary Karr, Alan Kaufman, and Elizabeth Wurtzel by Miranda Popkey
(via barthel)
I have to confess, my respect for Mary Karr just dropped a few points. Infinite Jest is only 950 or so pages, plus 100 pages of footnotes. Ulysses is 650 or so, in smaller print, with a semantic density which is exponentially greater. Your average paperback novel is about 280-320 pages. It’s like saying “I could read one novel with the same characters and continuing plot. Maybe even two. But three is just too many.”
Seriously, of all people to have respect for a journey that demands an attention span, shouldn’t novelists? Especially when you’re in the book?
As long as we’re on the subject of IJ, I heard Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves disdainfully referred to as “Infinite Jest for teenagers.” Nearly fell out of my seat laughing, although in retrospect I think it puts House of Leaves in better company than it deserves.
(via barthel)
