After reading this, I’m still not exactly sure what Lev Grossman thinks of Infinite Jest, but it is the book’s tenth anniversary. Seems fitting that it should be in the news when one of Wallace’s clearest inspirations, Thomas Pynchon, has a new novel out (as you may have heard).
When Jest was first released, Sven Birkerts had this to say: “The next step in fiction. … Edgy, accurate, and darkly witty. … Think Beckett, think Pynchon, think Gaddis. Think.”
