Were Infinite Jest released 15 years later than it was, it would be the perfect web-ready e-book. That is, instead of endnotes, hyperlinks could be used. Not only would this make it a much more free-flowing book, but it would make the extra detail and elaborations found in the endnotes feel more organic. As it is now, I can't help but feel like I'm carrying around two books. One of these books is the novel proper, while the other is a collection of addenda.
Can such a feeling be good to have for a novel, though? The endnotes' quality of separateness from the novel itself makes it feel like it takes place in a more real place and involves more real people than those found in other well-constructed works of fiction. Could that be why David Foster Wallace included them?
Not just to annoy those who would rather have a smooth experience of fiction, but to make his setting and characters appear much rounder than they might've otherwise?
Or was it to force his readers to interrupt their own reading so that thing could be digested?
We'll never know, but the way that endnotes, by their very nature, interrupt the flow of prose suggests that his reason for them is slowly leaving the understanding of our digital age's velvety flow.
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