I’m an English teacher by profession, and as such I make it my New Year’s Resolution to read one massive work of literature every calendar year. This year’s work was Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, which in print comes out to well over 1,000 pages. And it’s…something. I had co-workers ask me what it was about. I wasn’t sure what to tell them. My department head asked me twice, the second time to say it in a sentence or two. That is impossible. The book doesn’t actually have much in the way of a plot, you see, and it more of a free-roaming satire. What plot strands it does have are slow to blossom and most are never even really resolved. Plus, there’s a lot of body humor of the lowest sort, and I’m not really a fan of that.
But now, you too can find out what the book is about in a way that may make more sense than asking me. Capital University English professor Kevin Griffith and his 11, possibly 12 as of this writing, year-old stepson Sebastian have been recreating the entire book using Legos over at their site Brickjest. From what I’ve seen, they’ve done an excellent job, and while Infinite Jest isn’t exactly the height of casual reading, I’d say doing that much with Legos must count as something.
Gabbing Geek 