Infinite Hipsterism

I'm about 35 pages into the 981 page behemoth which is David Foster Wallace's magnum opus, Infinite Jest. A brief overview, though clearly I'm not near far enough into the novel to know much for myself: Infinite Jest is (surprise surprise) a metafictional novel centered around an eponymous movie within the book. This movie is "so entertaining that anyone who watches it loses all desire to do anything but watch it", and so it quickly becomes the target of various groups and individuals who want to control it. While I haven't experienced enough to judge strongly either way, Wallace's writing and storybuilding are unique and fascinating, and I look forward to exploring them further over the coming days.


I want to touch on a separate but related topic: the idea of "hipster" as a label. I bring this up because Infinite Jest is often considered one of the core standards of so-called hipster literature - but what does this really mean? Well, let's look at the definition. Merriam-Webster defines hipster as "a person who is unusually aware of and interested in new and unconventional patterns (as in jazz or fashion)". This seems reasonable enough: Infinite Jest certainly doesn't follow literary conventions. However, a more colloquial definition for the word reveals its more modern connotations. I'd say that, beyond simply an awareness of unconventional media, the label hipster tends to imply a certain pretentiousness towards those who aren't aware of these. That's the uncomfortable association, and the one that I feel should be fought.