Infinite Grace

On the things that can and cannot save me

“That no matter how smart you thought you were, you are actually way less smart than that. That AA and NA and CA’s ‘God’ does not apparently require you to believe in Him/Her/It before He/She/It will help you.” – Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace

“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” – Confessions, St. Augustine

I was 17 when I first tried to read Infinite Jest, really far too young to have been legally permitted to. Nobody asked for my ID at the Barnes & Noble where I happened upon a paperback copy and smugly handed the cashier a $20 bill in exchange for it, hoping they would be impressed by my selection. Someone really should have, though. What business does a teenager have reading a 1,000-plus-page novel about the existential anguish inherent to American life? What about David Foster Wallace’s sprawling exploration of addiction, dysfunction, and the pursuit of meaning in a hyper-mediated near future society could I have possibl…