Infinite Notes: Reading Infinite Jest

James O. Incandenza (Himself; the Mad/Sad Stork)

The patriarch of the Incandenza family.

  • communication problems of all kinds, apparently
    • persistent hallucination that Hal does not speak
      • Himself’s ghost admits to Gately that Hal was most like him (Himself) and had become fearful that Hal was becoming a figurant
    • tells Joelle that he cannot speak to his “undamaged” sons w/o the presence and mediation of Avril
  • pp. 31 - implication that he has “an entertainment cartridge” implanted in his skull
    • Hal + John (‘N.R.’’) Wayne + Gately dig up his head? for that? (what is it?)
  • indicated that he did some important work toward “cold annular fusion”
    • not explicit BUT : easy to interpret from those part of the narrative that Himself would have patents – and thus: that explains why the family is so well-off
  • often rendered impotent with this obsessive idea that the world had a finite number of erections (i.e., only so many boners for the whole world) and he did not want any wasted on himself

on Himself's Father

  • a (failed) actor
    • and on that note: anti-method acting; very anti-Brando
  • an (arguably) failed tennis pro
  • planned to “build a tennis pro” out of young James

on Himself's Death

  • in the Year of the Trial Size Dove Bar
    • at age 54
  • buried at Québec’s L’Islet County
  • Clipperton suicide footage (allegedly) buried with him
    • see pp. 408, fn. 160

Filmography

See fn. 24: pp. 985-993

“Poor Yorick Entertainment”

“conceptually unfilmable”

  • The Man Who Began to Suspect He Was Made of Glass
    • IIRC: important to theme
  • Pre-Nuptial Agreement Between Heaven and Hell
    • IIRC: mentioned many times
  • The ONANtiad
    • significant to ETA somehow
  • Wave Bye-Bye to the Bureaucrat
  • Infinite Jest (V)
    • “completion of (IV)”
    • (prev. version(s) unfilmable?)
    • (possibly version IV?)
    • motivation: to coax Hal into feeling and conversing, to create something that was more than something that Hal could ‘simply master and move on’