Identifying stasis in David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the theme of stasis as addressed by David Foster Wallace in his massive novel Infinite Jest. Nearly all the critical readings of the novel have always hinted at the theme of stasis without giving it a wider, appropriate look. My claim is that such a crucial topic lies at the core of the book and it is related to all its sections and chapters, from the general themes to the particular descriptions of the characters' lives, speeches and psychical states, to the hundreds pages of endnotes that impose upon the overall narrative structure and force us to constantly interrupt the act of reading, in an infinite, recursive loop. Everything in the novel seems to suggest or inspire a stasis of sort, a neverending state of discord between parts. Despite the amount of critical readings of Infinite Jest, a deep and counscious insight into the numerous narrative implications of stasis has never been attempted yet, if not briefly. Connecting the topic to the concepts of selfhood and freedom of choice as investigated by the existentialist thinkers whose works appear to have directly influenced Wallace's prose, my intention is to explore the world of Infinite Jest and study all the parts in which stasis is used by Wallace to achieve a particular effect, whether formal or thematic.