#InfiniTC Summer-y week 2, INFINITE JEST 63-127
Below are short summaries of each section, followed by a list of characters per section. Again, these are taken almost verbatim, from the original Infinite Summer-ers. Since I chose to do different page breaks at the chapters, I’m personalizing summer-ies to our pages.
AS OF YEAR OF THE DEPEND ADULT UNDERGARMENT: The history of ETA and its founder James Orin Incandenza (father to Hal, Orin, and Mario).
DENVER CO, 1 NOVEMBER YEAR OF THE DEPEND ADULT UNDERGARMENT: Orin glides into Mile High Stadium in a Cardinals costume; Michael Pemulis talks to his “Little Buddies” at ETA about drugs; Hal relates a dream that he used to have nightly.
YEAR OF THE DEPEND ADULT UNDERGARMENT: Kate Gompert is in the hospital, speaks about the depression her addiction to pot engenders.
YEAR OF THE DEPEND ADULT UNDERGARMENT: Tiny Ewell travels to the Enfield Marine VA Hospital Complex via cab.
A list of people gathered in the living room of the medical attaché house watching the Entertainment.
30 APRIL – YEAR OF THE DEPEND ADULT UNDERGARMENT: Remy Marathe of the Assassins des Fauteuils Rollents (wheelchair assassins) and M. Hugh Steeply of the Office of Unspecified Services (OUS) converse on a bluff outside Tucson, AZ.
A herd of feral hamsters rampages in the Great Concavity (which used to be Vermont, and is now owned by Canada)
YEAR OF THE DEPEND ADULT UNDERGARMENT: Banter and exhaustion in the ETA lockeroom. Present: Hal Incandenza, John (N.R.) Wayne, Jim Troelsch, Michael Pemulis, Ted Schacht, Ortho Stice, Jim Struck, Keith Freer.
Marathe and Steeply continue their conversation through sunset.
3 NOVEMBER Y.D.A.U.: Big Buddy meetings: first Hal (with Kent Blott, Idris Arslanian, Evan Ingersol), then Wayne, Troelsch, Struck, and Stice.
MARIO INCANDENZA’S FIRST AND ONLY EVEN REMOTELY ROMANTIC EXPERIENCE, THUS FAR: Millicent Kent tells Mario she has seen a tripod, confides in him, and tries to kiss him. Millicent, Mario, and Hal find the tripod on the way out of the woods.
30 APRIL – YEAR OF THE DEPEND ADULT UNDERGARMENT: Marathe and Steeply discuss the Entertainment, and possibility of an antidote (the anti-Entertainment).
***
Characters in bold appear to be major.
AS OF YEAR OF THE DEPEND ADULT UNDERGARMENT (page 63)
Dr. James Orin Incandenza (“Himself”): Husband of Avril, father to Orin, Mario, and Hal. Founder of ETA, filmmaker, inventor. Died in The Year of the Trial-Sized Dove Bar.
DENVER CO, 1 NOVEMBER YEAR OF THE DEPEND ADULT UNDERGARMENT (page 65)
Michael Pemulis: Member of the 18s B squad at ETA; friend to Hal and Mario.
YEAR OF THE DEPEND ADULT UNDERGARMENT (page 68)
Katherine “Kate” Ann Gompert: Pot addict, depressive. First seen in hospital.
Unnamed: Kate’s doctor.
Gerhardt Schtitt: Head Coach and Athletic Director at E.T.A. Old; borderline fascist; friends with Mario.
YEAR OF THE DEPEND ADULT UNDERGARMENT (page 85)
Tiny Ewell: Diminutive recovering alcoholic, being driven to the Enfield Marine VA Hospital Complex.
30 APRIL – YEAR OF THE DEPEND ADULT UNDERGARMENT (page 87)
Remy Marathe: Member of the Assassins des Fauteuils Rollents (AFR); is working as a quadruple agent—that is, his superior, M. Fortier, thinks that Marthe is working as a triple agent (pretending to work with the Office of Unspecified Services, while in reality reporting back to AFR), but Marathe is actually collaborating with OUS to secure medical services for his wife.
M. Hugh Steeply: Agent the Office of Unspecified Services. Currently operating in disguise as a large woman; Marathe’s contact.
MARIO INCANDENZA’S FIRST AND ONLY EVEN REMOTELY ROMANTIC EXPERIENCE, THUS FAR (page 121)
U.S.S. Millicent Kent: Unkindly nicknamed Girls 16”²s Singles player who attempts to seduce Mario Incandenza.
July 1st, 2015 at 9:49 pm
The man does have a way w/ the character names.
Kristin, have you come across a concordance for the Subsidized Time and “regular” calendar years? As I was reading James O. Incandenza’s filmography (because film nerd humor) it seemed as though the BS years ended ~1997 and perhaps the first sponsored year was Year of the Whopper? Reliable resource?
July 5th, 2015 at 1:24 pm
I’m disturbed/peeved by how Millicent Kent is referred to as a battleship, heaving into view. Realize p.o.v. is teen-aged Mario Incandenza, but by the time this interlude was over I’d had quite enough “U.S.S. Millicent Kent” and honestly felt like popping someone. [p.121, Loc. 2677]
July 5th, 2015 at 8:00 pm
I don’t remember being bothered by the moniker USS for Millicent on my first read, but I was really offended by it this time, in addition to it being the kind of guy-wish-fulfillment of a sexually predatorial girl. Though it’s exactly the kind of thing teenage boys would joke about. Reminds me a little of the image of the tall woman from 16 Candles clutching Dong’s head to her chest.