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Word of Infinite Jest

A list of 162 words by billifer.

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  • whichbe David Foster Wallace found dead last night. Sep 14, 2008

  • dijinn I feel as though I've found a kindred spirit here. Thanks for posting the words you found whilst digging the strata that is the IJ. I did a similar exercise when I first encountered IJ five or six years ago. And I am redoing it currently. Am a little over half way through the book but am taking a much more leisurely approach this time. Trying to piece the book together in my head as I go instead of the perpetual deer in the headlights look I had during my first pass.

    Anyway, thanks for the list. I plan to flip open my list tonight when I get home and see if I encounter any that you did not list. You already are doing well in my book as you have listed the best word in the entire book. Suprasubliminal. Which is also encased in my absolute favorite sentence in the book - "Suprsubliminal and that." (If I remember correctly it was embedded in a rather surreal para. that discussed the actual content of the Infinite Jest movie. Which would make it my favorite paragraph of the book as well. Which is saying something.)

    Anyway, I digress. Thanks a bunch for the list. I have enjoyed it immensely.

    Taylor
    May 21, 2007

  • billifer This list, and the comments that I make on the words listed here, are licensed under a Creative Commons license. Feel free to reuse this list however you see fit within the scope of the license! Other users’ comments may not be licensed as such.

    Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.

    Dec 27, 2006

  • billifer All the words gathered in this list are words that I have encountered, or in some cases, reencountered, while reading David Foster Wallace's magnum opus Infinite Jest.

    Unfortunately, I didn't think to start this list until I was more than a few dozen pages in, so many words, good ones, have not been captured in this list.

    Many of these words, of course, are the author's own neologisms, and you will find them nowhere except in Infinite Jest or in essays, reviews, or surveys of the work. DFW's literary prowess is unmistakable upon reading this or any of his other works. As a writer myself, I aspire to the heights (or depths?) of genius that is DFW.

    Others, naturally, are to be found in common dictionaries, or in exceptional cases, only in unabridged ones. Many, such as noninsecure, are merely compounded or strange twists of preexisting words: forms that, in many cases, make plenty sense to have around, but simply aren't part of the language proper.

    I've found it difficult at times to know when to draw the line with respect to more common words, viz. not Wallace's neologisms, such as contemptuous. Many readers who find this list — and hopefully find it a useful reference while reading Infinite Jest — may not know that word, especially those who are non-native speakers of English. Many other people (especially the type to read Infinite Jest) will consider such inclusions germane. In any case, I've tried to set a tolerance for established words that everyone can be happy with.

    If you have any comments regarding this list, please feel free to leave me a comment on my profile, or on my blog. Dec 4, 2006