I’ve had great fun with Infinite Summer. I mean, any time with Infinite Jest is well spent, as far as I’m concerned, but the IS community made it a new experience all over again, and added so much to my reading (and future rereadings) of the book. I think this whole project might actually have been something like the apotheosis of reading IJ, the ultimate Aufhebung (I’m treading deep water here, and may end up over my head) of the solitary experience of reading a novel so sincerely concerned that people only connect. The guides at IS brought various perspectives, the forums really opened things up, and the bloggers did some fantastic detailed work to enrich the reading; I particularly want to thank Daryl, Jeffrey, and Aaron for their dedication and insight.
What I’ve been less pleased with is my own participation here. My posts have, overall, been somewhat shallower and more disjointed than I was hoping for when I undertook to blog along with IS. Now that I don’t feel the constraint of the spoiler line, and won’t have the “news cycle” of the week’s reading schedule to write against, I want to rectify that. So I’m going to finish up my own Infinite Summer this fall with a few more posts on some things I didn’t get to. First up: Eschaton.
Shallow? I don’t think so. And while I was always happy to see a new post from you, everyone does what they can. There were quite a few folks from whom I’d have liked to see more (can you say “Chris Forster?”), but that’s more about me than it is about them. Thanks for your contributions, and I’ll be watching for any ongoing thoughts you have.