95 pages 3 hours read

David Foster Wallace

Infinite Jest

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1996

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Pages 375-489Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Pages 375-410 Summary

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment (April 30-May 1)

Marathe and Steeply are still on the mountainside. The night is becoming colder. Marathe is unsure of what exactly Steeply wants from him, though Steeply has revealed that he is now recently divorced and has been permitted time off by the Office of Unspecified Services. He is now working undercover as a journalist who is attempting to learn more about the Entertainment.

In an endnote, Helen Steeply (Hugh Steeply undercover as a female journalist) interviews Orin. Orin explains how his father lost his mind in “sort of a funny way” (1026). Orin also gives his own critical opinions on his father’s films. He tells Helen that he and his brothers referred to their father by nicknames such as Himself. Then, he outlines a filmmaking style James invented that involved picking people randomly from a phone book and interviewing them. James claimed that this approach was “the ultimate in neorealism” (1028).

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment Interdependence Day Gaudeamus Igitur (November 8)

The first film Mario finished involved a finger puppet performance. Surprisingly, the film was popular among E.T.A. students, and an annual screening on Interdependence Day became a much-loved traditional at the academy.