The Jest: pages 343 - 388

Pages 343 – 357: This section also subtitled “Gaudeamus Igitur”, but this describes Boston AA. After a description of a game about the end of the world, a description of real life and the possibilities of putting lives back together, so it isn’t so odd that both sections have the same subtitle.

Page 344, 15 lines from bottom: imbricate, overlapping like roof tiles, describes plant or animal parts that overlap in a regular pattern.

Page 346 line 18: formicative, (yes, with an m) a feeling of insects crawling on skin, a neurologically based hallucination in which somebody feels as if insects are crawling on his or her skin.

Page 347 line 22: The Face in the Floor, also on p. 62, where it appeared first.

Page 347 line 23: “…and the face is your own face in the mirror…” See p. 1025, note 129, and how Pemulis dickies with the mirror over the bureau in the little recessed part of your subdorm room so that when you look in the mirror in the A.M. to comb or tend to a blackhead or something you see something staring back at you that you’ll never entirely get over. Another point of commonality between widely divergent E.T.A. and Ennet House.

Page 348 line 9: Balaclavan, (with the initial capital) the Turkish infantry in the Crimean War from the village of Balaclava, where the Charge of the Light Brigade was conducted. See wikipedia .

Page 348 line 10: prognathous, having projecting jaw, describes a jaw that sticks out markedly.

Page 350 line 5: A Cage reference.

Page 351 bottom: Only in Boston AA can you hear a fifty-year-old immigrant wax lyrical about his first solid bowel movement in adult life.

Page 352, 4 lines from bottom – page 354 line 10: One incredibly long sentence.

Page 353, 9 lines from bottom: fremitic, in the manner of a vibration or tremor, resulting from a physical action such as speaking or coughing, felt by hand and used to assess whether the chest is affected by disease.

Page 354 line 7: majisculed, in the manner of large printed letter: a large letter used in writing or printing, for example, a capital letter or any of the large rounded letters used in ancient manuscripts.

Page 357 line 7: "Like most young people genetically hardwired for a secret drug problem..." Do Hal's genetics have anything to do with his condition at the beginning of the book?

Page 359, 11 lines from bottom: another Cage reference.

Page 362, 14 lines from bottom: venulated, with a large number of small blood vessels visible.

Page 363 line 21: Another reference to Clenette Henderson

Page 364 line 4: refers to Gately’s dream on p. 358 line 15 – p.359 line 12.

Page 366 line 8: apicals, consonant sounds pronounced with the tip of the tongue, e.g. “t” or “d”.

Page 366 line 29: “…put her head in a RadaRange.” That’s how James O. Incandenza did himself in.

Page 366, 2 lines from bottom: Another Cage reference.

Page 367 line 5: caparison, decorative covering for a horse; harness or saddle decorations; elaborate clothing.

Page 368 line 15: cunctations, hesitations or procrastination in the performance of some things.

Page 371 line 14 submammalian; DFW seems to have a thing for this genus.

Page 372, 9 lines from bottom: Go ahead, work out the acronym for this 12-step group. (Starts on p. 370, first full paragraph.)

Page 1024 line 13, note 145: orthochromatic, reproducing accurately the colors found naturally in a subject; describes film that is sensitive to all the visible colors except red.

Page 1027 line 13: après-garde, probably a DFW neologism meaning the opposite of avant-garde.

Page 1027 line 14: atavism, the recurrence of a genetically controlled feature in an organism after it has been absent for several generations, usually because of an accidental recombination of genes. But what does it mean to be intentionally atavistic? OK, it can happen. Atavism isn’t only genetic.

Page 1027 line 15: chiaroscuro, artistic use of light and shade: the use of light and shade in paintings and drawings, or the effect produced by this use.

Page 1027, 19 lines from bottom: Here is the definition of Found Drama, which James O. Incandenza invented. This definition might explain why the films “Found Drama I” through “Found Drama XI” were “concept, conceptual, unreleased.”

Page 376 line 1: anti-confluential, a DFW neologism, defined more fully in end note 61; we can parse it out:
anti-, opposed to something, expressing or holding an opposing view, particularly regarding a political issue or moral principle.
confluential, merging into one, merging together.
So, anticonfluential probably means a drifting apart or spreading apart. Could very well describe this book.

Page 379, 11 lines from bottom: chyme, a thick fluid mass of partially digested food and gastric secretions passed from the stomach to the small intestine.

Page 380 line 16: Here is mentioned that an American (James O.) married a Canadian (Avril). A union of the United States and Canada, i.e., O.N.A.N.?

Page 1029 line 10: “…—unlike, thank God, John—…” What has the Moms just revealed here?

Page 1029 line 25, note 148: I don’t think a harquebus is a hat.

Page 380, 1 line from bottom: tendentious, written or spoken with personal bias in order to promote a cause or support a viewpoint.

Page 381 line 6: falcate, curved and tapered to a point like a sickle.

Page 382 line 14: “a surreal union of both Rush L. – and Hillary R. C. – disillusioned fringes.” A contemporary reference here.

Page 1029, note 150: A brief explanation of annular fusion (very, very brief). This text explains that annular fusion involves consuming waste to produce fuel whose waste was also fuel…

Page 382: Explains the collapse of the U.S. political parties (all of them). After note 150, referenced at the very beginning of this text, the collapse of the U.S. political party system seems very much like annular fusion (fueling itself with its own waste.)

Page 384 line 16: imbricate, overlapping like roof tiles, describes plant or animal parts that overlap in a regular pattern.

Page 385, 7 lines from bottom: prandial, related to a meal, especially lunch or dinner.

Page 385, 16 lines from bottom: Who is J.J.J.C.? Seems to be the prime minister of Canada, but what do the initials stand for?

Page 385 line 22: jejune, boring, uninteresting and intellectually undemanding; childish, lacking maturity or sophistication; without proper nourishment, lacking or not providing proper nourishment.

Page 387, 2 lines from bottom: fulgurant, flashing with or like lightning.

Page 388 line 1: glabrous, smooth and lacking hairs or bristles.

ESCHATON!!! pages 321 - 342

Page 321-342: Eschaton!!!

Page 321, bottom: Begins an explanation of Eschaton. Subtitled “Gaudeamus Igitur” (Let us then be merry).

Page 322 line 23: vademecumish, like a useful book, guidebook, handbook, or manual, especially one carried around or designed to be carried around constantly and referred to often.

Page 327 line 6: thanatoptic, perhaps thanatotic, the death instinct, esp. as expressed in violent aggression.

Page 329 line 21: first mention of Hal’s tooth starting to ache.

Page 330 line 18: MVL = Most Valuable Lobber (from p. 1025 note 128)

Page 333, 6 lines from bottom: refer to note 129 (p. 1025), reveals Pemulis’s vengeful side.

Page 334: The map/territory confusion could be legitimate. If the map represents the real world, and it is snowing on the map, does that represent snow in the real world? This would mean that snow was falling everywhere in the world at that moment (extremely unlikely). Page 334, 11 lines from bottom, clarifies this.

Page 340 line 24: Hal is watching a representation of the End of the World As We Know It.

Page 322 line 3: Calls Eschaton a “homemade Academy game”, but on p. 284 line 16, Eschaton originated at Palmer Academy in Tampa.

Some useful notes about Eschaton:

Teams:

AMNAT: 3 players

SOVWAR: 3 players

REDCHI: 1 or two players

LIBSYR (later IRLIBSYR): 1 or 2 players

SOUTHAF: any remaining player

INDPAK: any remaining player

Or any other, like, terrorist cell: any remaining player

Acronyms:

MAMA: major Metropolitan Area

CONFORCON: Conventional Force Concentration

SSTRAC: Site of Strategic Command

MILABREV: ?

SPASEX: spasm exchange

SACPOP: Strike Against Civilian Population

INDDIR: Infliction of Death Destruction Incapacitation of Response (points used for the final score)

SUFDDIR: Suffering of Death Destruction Incapacitation of Response (opposite points used for the final score)

TRIGSIT: Triggering Situation

Target representations:

folded gray-on-red E.T.A. T-shirt = MAMA

red tennis shirt w/gray trim = CONFORCON

red shorts (not tennis)w/gray trim = SSTRAC

Stolen motel towel = airfield, bridge, satellite-linked monitoring facility, carrier group, conventional power plant, important rail convergence

Black E.T.A. armband = atomic power plant, uranium-/plutonium-enrichment facility, gaseous diffusion plants, breeder reactors, initiator factories, neutron-scattering-reflector labs, tritium-production reactor vessel s, heavy water plants, semi-private shaped-charge concerns, Annular Fusion research labs (especially point-heavy)

Sock = missile installation

Boy’s tennis sock = antimissile installation

Boy’s street sock = isolated silo-cluster

Girl’s tennis sock (w/bunny tail) = cruise-capable B2 or SS5 squadron

Girl’s tennis sock(w/o bunny tail) = (MILABREV)

Worn-out sneaker = submarine

White Beanie: signals temporary cessation of SPASEX between two combatants (p.332 line 17)

Black Beanie: ?

Red Beanie: signals utter global crisis (p. 336, bottom). Flicking the red beanie propeller signals a worst-case and utterly decontrolled Armageddon type situation (p.340, 6 lines from bottom).

Page 323 line 2: synoptic, constituting a general view of the whole subject, pertaining to synopsis.

Page 323 line 11: There really was a computer called the DEC 2100. It was based on Digital Equipment Corporation’s Alpha chip.

Page 1025 note 129: It states here that Pemulis is a real revenge-as-a-dish-best-served-cold gourmet.

Page 334, 14 lines from bottom: The wind spinning the propeller on the white beanie. On p. 336, bottom, Lord flicks the propeller on the red beanie (he puts on before p. 336, bottom), signaling a worst-case and utterly decontrolled Armageddon type situation.

Page 336: Instead of calling the worn-out tennis balls used in the game “balls”, DFW calls them warheads, keeping within the mapping of the game. It gives the reader a mental picture of 11- and 12-year-olds playing with nuclear armament.

Page 323 line 10: EndStat, such an appropriate name for the math software used in this game.

Page 336, 3 lines from bottom: solander box, a book-form case used for storing manuscripts, maps, prints, documents, etc. It is commonly used in archives and libraries. The case is usually constructed of hardcover or wood, and has a hinged lid connected to its base. The front-edge of the case often contains a clasp for closure. The exterior is covered with heavy paper, fabric or leather, and its interior is lined with padded paper or felt.

Page 338 line 12: J. J. Penn, now that the players have been mapped into the territory in the previous four paragraphs, proceeds to map the articles of clothing that Ann Kittenplan is wearing as targets (refer to the table of clothing/target correspondence on pp. 323-324).

The Jest: page 311 - 320 (from the end notes)

Page 1016: 14 lines from bottom: Hal’s toothache.

Page 1018, 14 lines from bottom: “…Pemulis, who’s pacing and holding the Constantine bust in his hands and examining it at close range, shaking his head.” A scene from Hamlet?

Page 1019 line 21: swivet, a flustered or agitated state.

Page 1019 line 26: falcate, curved and tapered to a point like a sickle.

Page 1020 line 16: Anschluss, the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany by the Nazi regime.

Page 1021, 18 lines from bottom: mayhi, an attempt to make mayhem plural?

Page 1021 line 25: anapestic, in the manner of a metrical foot of three syllables with the stress on the third syllable, or of two short syllables followed by a long syllable. The word “unconcerned” and the phrase “up the hill” are anapestic.

Page 312, 6 lines from bottom: Charles Tavis was present at Mario’s birth, having arrived 6 months earlier; too short a time to have been the father of Mario, but Mario was “terribly premature” (see p. 313 line 5), so the question is still up in the air.

Page 313 line 19: This paragraph seems to describe the effects of Thalidomide, which was a popular tranquilizer in Canada during the mid- to late sixties; probably too early for Mario’s gestation. I’ve heard some speculation that Mario’s deformities could be the result of a brother/sister coupling, but C.T. was Avril’s half-brother and unrelated by blood.

Page 312 line 18: “…seven month pregnancy”; so C.T. could have been Mario’s father.

Page 313, 13 lines from bottom: The description of Mario’s arms: “impressively – almost familial-dysautonomically –pain-resistant.” Interesting choice of adjective-adverb.

Page 313, bottom half: Boy, Orin does not care for his younger brother!

Page 314 line 22: Mario’s hair looks like C.T.’s hair. And a cute jab at C.T.’s comb-over.

Page 314, 8 lines from bottom: Ages of the Incandenza brothers: Orin, 17; Mario 9; Hal 8. So, Orin is 8 years older than Mario, and Mario is 1 year older than Hal.

Page 314, 5 lines from bottom: Mario is the only individual at E.T.A. that is physically challenged in any way.

Page 1022 note 117: The author’s mild apology for a piece of text that he should have place earlier.

Page 312-317: this part about Mario—incredibly revealing of the Incandenza brothers and the Moms.

Page 318, 5 lines from bottom: Marathe is talking like a drug dealer, absolving himself of any responsibility for the damage his product brings.

Page 319 line 25: The “razzle incident”, what is it? Perhaps p. 87 middle paragraph.

Page 317-321: Every time the Jest brings up Marathe and Steeply in the desert, it gets deeply philosophical.

The Jest: pages 238 - 310 (plus end notes)

Page 270 line 13: erumpent, bursting through or as if through a surface or covering.

Page 271 line 23: sedulously, working persistently, painstakingly.

Page 272 line 11: nictitated, to blink or wink.

Page 1001 line 27: redolent, suggestive or reminiscent of something, with a particular scent or odor.

Page 274 line 7: Eugenio Martinez, a.k.a. Gene M. – refers to the Disease as The Spider. Orin and James O. Incandenza were terrified of spiders. Spiders a recurring theme or symbol.

Page 280 line 23: supporating, forming or discharging pus.

Page 280 line 14-25: This whole paragraph about Pat Montesian’s dogs and their part in Pat’s admissions interviews is just amazing.

Page 279 line 26: Mention of Randy Lenz going back to Chianti and ‘ludes and getting assaulted by sidewalks. Mention of the killer sidewalks to come. DFW does this, drops hints of an idea or concept that he explains more fully later. Sometimes all that you learn about a character or situation is what DFW sprinkles on you a little bit at a time like this.

Page 280 line 11: Talwin, a trademark for the drug pentazocine hydrochloride, the brand name for pentazocine lacatate, a potent analgesic, which is as effective as morphine. Talwin is a controlled substance.

Page 281 line 7: distaff, referring to a wife’s or mother’s side of the family. In this case, I think DFW is simply saying the women’s team.

Page 281 line 16: The reader need only guess what happened to Pemulis’s opponent to figure out why he became so lethargic in the second set or found the balls to be too pretty to hit, or a number of other behavior changes during the day. This supports the hypothesis that Pemulis had something to do with Hal’s “change” in the beginning of the book.

Page 281, 5 lines from bottom: nystagmic, an involuntary movement of the eyeball.

Page 282 line 16: “Schtittless”: interesting play on a name.

Page 283 line line: “the tumescence of O.N.A.N.ism.” That says it all. And DFW had to have deliberately chosen Organization of North American Nations just for the acronym.

Page 1003 note 94: neurasthenic, marked by chronic mental and physical fatigue and depression.

Page 284 line 3: afflatus, creative inspiration, usually thought of as divine.

Page 284 line 16: A little more about Eschaton. Orin was the first Eschaton Grand Master at E.T.A. But Eschaton seems to have originated at Palmer Academy in Tampa.

Page 285 line 16: The Moms, a contortionist of other people’s bodies.

Page 284 line 20: deafflatusized, A DFW neologism, must mean loss or removal of afflatus.

Page 1003, note 98: lordotic, an unusual inward curving of the spine in the lower part of the back, which may be medically significant.

Page 286, 15 lines from bottom: felo de se, an act of committing suicide, somebody who commits suicide.

Page 288 line 6: Salic Law, a body of Medieval law. the best known tenet of Salic law is agnatic succession, the rule excluding females from the inheritance of a throne or fief. See Wikipedia.

Page 289, 13 lines from bottom: strabismic, having eyes that are not aligned in parallel or move the eyes so that they are not aligned in parallel.

Page 290 line 17: ascapartic, Ascapart or Ascupart was an enormous giant, thirty feet high, who carried off Sir Bevis, his wife Josian, his sword Morglay, and his steed Arundel, under his arm. Sir Bevis afterwards made Ascapart his slave, to run beside his horse. In this context, it probably means “big guy”. See WordWizard or Wikipedia.

Page 290 line 1: Where the term P.G.O.A.T. came from.

Page 290, 12 lines from bottom: attar, essential oil extracted from flowers.

Page 292 line 16: CNS = Central Nervous System

Page 293, 7 lines from bottom: factota, pl. of factotum, somebody who does many jobs.

Page 293, bottom third: DFW seems to be really making a statement about the fear of expanding one’s boundaries.

Page 294 line 15: Actaeonizingly, and again on p. 295 line 19, in Greek mythology, Actaeon was a hunter who was turned into a stag after inadvertently catching sight of the goddess Artemis bathing. This word is probably one of DFW’s to mean the sight of one so beautiful that it physically changes the beholder.

Page 299 line 14: “Madame P.G.O.A.T. …”, a sly hint at her future name, perhaps? This page seems to describe one of those life-changing events for Orin, then the opposing football team makes contact with him. What exactly happened to Orin? DFW is only dropping his usual hints.

Page 299, bottom: Introducing Poor Tony Krause. Poor Tony was mentioned on p. 128, 7 lines from bottom, and throughout the whole story on pp. 128-135. Poor Tony was the thief who stole the lady’s handbag with her heart in it, on pp. 142-144.

Page 301 line 22: neurasthenic, marked by chronic mental and physical fatigue and depression.

Page 301-303: An absolutely chilling description of heroin withdrawal.

Page 310 line 21: SACPOP, an achronym from Eschaton, soon to be explained.

Page 1005 line 5: The Unexamined Life: a great name for a bar. When I open a bar, that’s what I’m going to name it.

Page 1005 line 20: Interesting observation, that all of Emily Dickenson’s poems can be sung to “The Yellow Rose of Texas”. But this really isn’t true. I guess this is the kind of observation that Orin would make but that Hal would rebut.

Page 1006 line 8: solecism, a grammatical mistake, error, or breach of good manners.

Page 1009 line 1: Ainsi, French, meaning something like thus, so, in this way. Makes sense that Orin is using it; probably the Quebecois influence of the Moms.

Page 1009 line 7: gynecopia, a word that Orin just made up (has to be), a cornucopia of female genitalia.

Page 1014, 8 lines from bottom: A reference to Avril Incandenza’s forgiveness of Orin for killing her dog (Orin and Marlon Blain).

Page 1016 line 2: “Chortles are good. We like chortles.” Orin echoing Avril, from p. 1006 line 26.

Page 1016 line 27: “Me tell the truth? Me lie?” When Orin tells the truth, he’s lying?

Page 1016 line 29: ascapartic, again, previously on p. 290 line 17.

The Jest: pages 221 - 237

Page 222: 3rd paragraph (if you count the ½ paragraph at the top of the page); “Joelle Van Dyne is excruciatingly alive and encaged,…” Another Cage reference.

Page 222, 9 lines from bottom: more about the Cage.

Page 223: A list of the years of Subsidized Time. Note this list: you will need it to keep track of what’s going on. You will wish you had it about 222 pages ago.

Page 224 line 2: “The encaged and suicidal…” Two characteristics of the same person, or one or the other being sufficient for the object of this sentence. Either way, another Cage reference.

Page 224 line 4: “the second cage”. Another Cage reference.

Page 224 line 9: Material capitalized like the Entertainment.

Page 224, bottom to page 225 top: Film cartridge suicide notes; was The Entertainment a suicide note from J.O.I.?

Page 225 line 2: Joelle’s personal name for him was “Infinite Jim”.

Page 225 line 19: James O. Incandenza, among many things, was a great hailer of cabs. But so was Avril, but I can’t remember where in the text.

Page 225 line 28: Joelle Van Dyne a.k.a. Madame P., the two outright equated.

Page 225 line 28: tumbrel, a cart used during the French Revolution to carry condemned prisoners to be executed by guillotine. What a word to use for a cab, but how appropriate for a suicide.

Page 226 line 19: How the U.H.I.D. was founded, and how Winston Churchill initiated its founding.

Page 226, 13 lines from bottom: scopophobic, fear of being looked at or upon.

Page 227, 2 lines from bottom: “…that Joelle’s been in a cage…”: a reference to the U.H.I.D. veil? Another Cage reference.

Page 999, note 80: “…although by the time of Joelle’s acquaintance with him Jim wasn’t in a position to be lovers with anybody,” see p. 31.

Page 229 line 3: “…the encaged rapacious thing…” Another cage reference.

Page 229, 22: Y.D.A.U. ‘s Minimal Mambo, this autumn’s East Coast anticraze… It seems that everything in this book is like adolescent rebellion against the status quo.

Page 229, 5 lines from bottom: “…retroironic by having the frames themselves framed, in wry allusion to the early-Experialist fashion of making art out of the accessories of artistic presentation…” More adolescent rebellion.

Page 230, 16 lines from bottom: “…the difference between suicide and homicide consisting perhaps only in where you think you discern the cage’s door: Would she kill somebody else to get out of the cage?” Another cage reference.

Page 232 line 22: phenomenology, in philosophy, the science or study of phenomena, things as they are perceived, as opposed to the study of being [ontology], the nature of things as they are; the philosophical investigation and description of conscious experience in all its varieties without reference to the question of whether what is experienced is objectively real.

Page 235 line 16: afflated, creatively inspired, usually thought of as divine.

Page 235 line 5 on down: the concept of Too Much Fun.

Page 237 line 19: Joelle and her own personal daddy.

Page 239, 8 lines from bottom: First mention of P.G.O.A.T.

Page 241 line 25: acclivated, upwardly sloping.

Page 240, last line: “…Dicalced monastery…” maybe a misspelling, discalced would mean that the monks go barefoot.

Page 243 line 18: propitiate, to appease or conciliate somebody or something.

Page 243 line 21: apotropaic, intended to ward off evil or bad luck.

Page 245 line 26: lacuna, a gap or place where something is missing, e.g. in a manuscript or a line of argument.

Page 249 line 14: Hal’s use of the word telemachry, which Orin corrects as telemetry, is a Freudian slip. Telemachus was the son of Odysseus and Penelope, who contrives with his father to slay his mother’s suitors.

Page 250, 18 lines from bottom: asphyxuated, a misspelling? But it appears again on page 251 line 14.

Page 252: Hal’s sessions with the grief counselor after his father’s death, cf. his sessions with the “professional conversationalist” on pp. 27-31.

Page 252 line 25: synclinal, like a fold in a rock formation that is shaped like a basin or trough and contains younger rocks in its core.

Page 254 line 7: Here is where Hal says the nightmares and the face in the floor dream (see p. 62) started, with these grief therapy sessions.

Page 255 line 10: “The nearest library…and step on it.” Ref. p 12 line 3.

Page 255 line 28: paroxysmic, a sudden and uncontrollable expression of emotion.

Page 258 line 10: Hal corrects the use of asphyxuated on p. 250 line 18 and p. 251 line 14.

Page 260 line 20: revenant, a dead person believed to have come back as a ghost.

Page 260 10 lines from bottom: Note 87 refers to the James O. Incandenza film “Homo Duplex”.

Page 262, 2 lines from bottom: hypertonic, describes a body part such as a muscle or artery that is under unusually high tension.

Page 262-263: I believe Pemulis’s pre-game nerves are mentioned earlier, but not sure where.
Page 265, 13 lines from bottom: VAPS, An E.T.A. term meaning Vector/Angle/Pace/Spin. See note 236.

Page 237 line 7: Schacht’s reason for Pemulis’s vomiting.

The Jest: pages 186 - 220

Page 187 line 20: steatopygiac, one with an accumulation of fat on the buttocks. (Yes, there is such a word.) No wonder they needed special slacks.

Page 187 line 27: U.H.I.D., Union of Hideously and Improbably Deformed. An agnostic-style 12-step program for what it calls the “aesthetically challenged”. Started in 1941 by that matron that Winston Churchill insulted. More on p. 226, and it's f'ing hilarious.

Page 187, 2 lines from bottom: “Like most marriages, Avril and the late James Incandenza’s was an evolved product of concordance and compromise,…” This phrase first appears on p. 183 line 28.

Page 188 line 9: L.A.S. = Liberal Arts School

Page 188 line 12: mens-sana, latin for “sound mind”.

Page 188 line 13: ad valoremized, according to value, in proportion to the value of something. So Avril’s “flinty mens-sana pedagogy wasn’t diluted so much as ad-valoremized…”

Page 189, 2 lines from bottom: “Her voice seems low-depth familiar to Mario…” Of course it does, considering that J.V.D. was one of J.O.I.’s prime actresses in his films while Mario was essentially an apprentice under J.O.I.

Page 190 line 9: lazarette, quarantine facility.

Page 190 line 9: oubliette, a dungeon made so that the only way in or out is through a trapdoor at the top.

Page 192, 5 lines from bottom: The caller describes the moon as never turning its face away from the Earth, much like viewers of The Entertainment never turn away from it.

Page 195 line 15: “Apeshit has rarely enjoyed so literal a denotation.” Man, that’s good!

Page 195, 11 lines from bottom: aminating, (not animating, with the m and the n transposed), the chemical process by which an amine group is introduced into an organic molecule. What’s this got to do with a needle?

Page 195, 7 lines from bottom: Residents of Ennett House get regular urine tests, just as the students of Enfield do, but no M. Pemulis selling them Visine bottles of clean piss. (Where would Ennett House residents get clean piss, anyway?)

Page 196 line 1: “…thoroughly eliminated personal map…” Map meaning, what, consciousness? I wasn’t paying attention to the occurrences of “map” up to this point. I’ll have to do that on the 3rd reread of The Jest.

Page 997, note 67: First use of the word figurant. Also in this note: the woman in Ennett House #5 (where the catatonics are kept) who, the security guards reason, is so terrified of being blind that she keeps her eyes tightly shut, afraid to find out if she is really blind or not. (Same sort of reasoning for catatonics and a fear of being paralyzed.) The fear so terrifying it cannot be faced.

Page 200 – 205: This reads like “Tennis and the Feral Prodigy”, pp. 172-176, but w/r/t substance abuse. It’s even in 2nd person narrative.

Page 202 + note 70 on p. 998: Inventorying every possible substance or activity that can be abused (and wrapping up, in note 70, of the ultimate consequence of stopping that abuse. Is it that we are all abusing one thing or another? Is that the point of our lives?

Page 208 line 6: Calvin Thrust : Charles Tavis; same initials, Calvin Thrust @ Ennett House, Charles Tavis @ E.T.A.

Page 208 line 8: magiscule, perhaps majuscule, a large letter used in writing or printing, for example, a capital letter or any of the large rounded letters (uncials) used in ancient manuscripts.

Page 208, 6 lines from bottom: mucronate, ending in a sharp point.

Page 209 line 19: “…St. Columbkill…” The Columbine High School shooting did not occur until April 20, 1999, but Infinite Jest was published in 1996. A tempting reference, but ahead of its time.

Page 209, 4 lines from bottom: autolyzed, broken down by cells by an enzyme that is produced within them. In this context, the tattoo fading away by the natural enzymatic action of the skin cells.

Page 213 line 25: titration, a method of determining the concentration of a solution.

Page 211 – 215: Details about DMZ.

Page 214 line 18: The Vaught twins get counted as one entry in the Dorm Room Draw. An explanation of why at p. 217 last line to p. 218 line 9.

Page 214, 16 lines from bottom: “’I mean literally lost his mind, like the massive dose picked his mind up and carried it off somewhere and put it down someplace and forgot where.” Like being lost, without a map. Yet another map reference.

Page 214, 9 lines from bottom: Axford speculates that maybe DMZ explains Lyle and his more-or-less permanent lotus position down in the weight room.

Page 215 line 22: DMZ nicknamed “Madame Psychosis”, (also see p. 170, 3 lines from bottom). Follows with the transmigration of the soul. Pemulis got the DMZ from two reputed Canadian separatist insurgents (see p. 171).

Page 216 line3: otiose, with no useful or practical purpose, with little or no value.

Page 216 line 10: entrepôt, a bonded warehouse.

Page 998, note 75, refers to losing a match as demapping.

Page 999 line 3, note 76: glabrous, smooth and lacking hair or bristles.

At the tail end of note 76, the description of the afterglow of Hal’s literary prodigity (hey, if DFW can do it, so can I) seems a lot like a description of the effects of viewing The Entertainment (not described yet, but I remember from my first reading).

Page 219, mid-page on: Introducing Joelle Van Dyne.

Page 220 line 9: another reference to map elimination.

Notes from The Jest: Page 157 - 185

Page 157 -158: Description of Marlon Brando and sprezzatura.

Page 159 line 28: parping, british slang, to break wind. In this context, literally “farting around”.

Page 159, 6 lines from bottom: rutilant, glowing red.

Page 170 line 15: Introducing DMZ. DMZ may parallel The Entertainment, in the way that DFW seems to parallel everyone and everything in Infinite Jest.

Page 996, note 56: fitviavi – eventually defined on p. 170. Also I like the simile: “…DMZ resembles chemically sort of the way an F-18 resembles a Piper Cub…”

Page 170, 3 lines from bottom (last para.): DMZ is also called Madame Psychosis by the Boston chemical underground.

Page 171, last 2 para.: This reads like Hal is making a purchase from Pemulis, after Pemulis has just made a transaction for DMZ. Has Hal purchased the DMZ from Pemulis?

Page 172 – 176: Tennis and the Feral Prodigy. Understand fully the word feral before reading this piece.
feral, gone wild, describing animals or plants that live or grow in the wild after having been domestically reared or cultivated; savage, similar to or typical of a wild animal.

Page 173, 10 lines from bottom: Hal’s father succeeded at everything he tried; Hal’s father’s father failed. Neither one seemed any happier or mentally stable for it. What does that make Hal?

Page 173, 12 lines from bottom: “Talent is its own expectation”

Page 173, bottom: So, the irony of working very hard when you’re very young to be good at something means that when you finally become good at it, it is seen as a talent that now you have to work even harder to develop and fulfill.

Page 174 line 7: formant, a frequency range where vowel sounds are at their most distinctive and characteristic pitch.

Page 174 line 7: fricative, made by breath friction, describes a consonantal speech sound made by forcing the breath through a narrow opening.

Page 174 line 7: trochaically, relating to, belonging to, or consisting of trochees.
trochee, a metrical foot of one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable, e.g., the word “human”.

Page 174, bottom: “Expect some rough dreams. They come with the territory. Try to accept them. Let them teach you.”

Page 175, top: “Keep a flashlight by the bed. It helps with the dreams.” Cf. page 62: the face in the floor. The narrator on p. 62 also kept a flashlight by the bed.

Page 175, 8 lines from bottom: “…sometimes words that seem to express really invoke.”

Page 177, 11 lines from bottom: formication, a neurologically based hallucination in which somebody feels as if insects are crawling on his or her skin. It is found in some case of chemical toxicity and among drug and alcohol abusers.

Page 180, 5 lines from bottom: Reference to Clenette.

Page 183 line 28: “Like most marriages, theirs was the evolved product of concordance and compromise.” Spoken as a sound check by Madam Psychosis. But M.P. has a history with James O. Himself. Maybe this is a Freudian slip, or a bit of sarcasm.

Page 184 line 5: Madam Psychosis == metempsychosis, the passing of the soul at death into another body. (A lot of sources make this connection.) This character, Joelle Van Dyne (a.k.a. the PGOAT) seems to represent this concept.

Page 184 line 18: WYYY-109, Largest Whole Prime on the FM Band. Actually 107.9 MHz is the highest frequency on the FM band, but this is DFW’s book and his made-up reality, so the FM band can be whatever he wants it to be.

Page 185 line 14: treillage, a trellis or piece of latticework.

Page 185 line 29: dramaturgy, the art of the theater, especially with regard to the techniques involved in writing plays.

Page 185 12 lines from bottom: après-garde, opposite of avant-garde?

Page 185, 11 lines from bottom: anticonfluential, a DFW neologism, defined more fully in end note 61; we can parse it out:
anti-, opposed to something, expressing or holding an opposing view, particularly regarding a political issue or moral principle.
confluential, merging into one, merging together.
So, anticonfluential probably means a drifting apart or spreading apart. Could very well describe this book.