‘Infinite Jest,’ the Internet, and the Politics of Reading

DAVID FOSTER WALLACE’S novel Infinite Jest, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, is the perfect parable for reading in the internet age. This is true of the novel itself, but it is even truer of its extremely online reception: it’s hard to think of a work of literary fiction that belongs to the internet more than Infinite Jest. The novel’s digital reception has been big, weird, and political, ranging from sincere blog posts to absurd Twitter/X memes; from feminist Reductress parodies, YouTube stunts, and BookTok videos to misogynistic threads on 4chan, a message board known as a breeding ground for far-right extremism, and copypastas on Reddit; and even from Aaron Swartz’s blog to Luigi Mangione’s Goodreads catalog.