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This is a personal project by @dellsystem. I built this to help me retain information from the books I'm reading.

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Encyclopedic Novels and the Cruft of Fiction: Infinite Jest's Endnotes

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on the endnotes being long, jarring to read, and sometimes needlessly complex and pointless (e.g., jargon about a drug that requires a background in pharmaceutics to understand); basically, cruft. compares to House of Leaves. the reader has to devise their own way to read the book. basically they have to put in work. also on how the mass of data you encounter in endnotes is analogous to our information age (such "information" also being mostly pointless). strikes a balance between cruft and profundity. sometimes the cruft itself contains profundity, like James Incandenza's filmography (mostly jokes tho). on how to handle information overload in a grown-up way (see Deciderization for DFW's thoughts on that). a surprisingly good essay

Letzler, D. (2014). Encyclopedic Novels and the Cruft of Fiction: Infinite Jest's Endnotes. In ? David Foster Wallace and "The Long Thing": New Essays on the Novels. Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 127-148

having no common measure; origins in ancient Greek mathematics and popularised by philosopher Thomas Kuhn

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these two types of notes' incommensurability exemplifies the major critical conflict over the nature of encyclopedic novels themselves

—p.129 by David Letzler
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8 years ago

these two types of notes' incommensurability exemplifies the major critical conflict over the nature of encyclopedic novels themselves

—p.129 by David Letzler
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8 years ago

an Italian artist famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric "prisons

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labyrinthine spaces drawn by Piranesi or Escher

—p.130 by David Letzler
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labyrinthine spaces drawn by Piranesi or Escher

—p.130 by David Letzler
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superfluous junk (from software development)

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—p.130 by David Letzler
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—p.130 by David Letzler
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the branch of zoology that deals with whales, dolphins, and porpoises

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—p.131 by David Letzler
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—p.131 by David Letzler
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an English writer whose 1921 volume The Craft of Fiction was one of the first major works of literary criticism to focus on the novel as a form

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—p.132 by David Letzler
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—p.132 by David Letzler
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the presence of something only in small or insufficient quantities or amounts; scarcity

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—p.132 by David Letzler
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—p.132 by David Letzler
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(Greek mythology) a skillful craftsman and artist; father of Icarus; creator of the Labyrinth on Crete

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—p.133 by David Letzler
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—p.133 by David Letzler
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from Italian virtuoso; requiring a high level of technical skill

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—p.133 by David Letzler
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—p.133 by David Letzler
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petty; worthless

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—p.135 by David Letzler
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—p.135 by David Letzler
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the clandestine copying and distribution of literature banned by the state, especially formerly in the communist countries of eastern Europe

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context: the plot of IJ

—p.141 by David Letzler
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context: the plot of IJ

—p.141 by David Letzler
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complicated; abstruse; curled inwards

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—p.142 by David Letzler
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—p.142 by David Letzler
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mentally or physically inactive; lethargic

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—p.142 by David Letzler
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—p.142 by David Letzler
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the art of knotting cord or string in patterns to make decorative articles

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—p.143 by David Letzler
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—p.143 by David Letzler
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(adjective) involving or accomplished with careful perseverance / (adjective) diligent in application or pursuit

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—p.143 by David Letzler
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—p.143 by David Letzler
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extravagantly ornate, florid, and convoluted in character or style

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baroque complexities

—p.144 by David Letzler
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baroque complexities

—p.144 by David Letzler
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green with vegetation; covered with growing plants or grass

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verdancy

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verdancy

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to the extent that; insofar as

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—p.146 by David Letzler
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