Infinite Jest is a 1996 novel by
David Foster Wallace. The lengthy and complex work takes place in a North American
dystopia, centering on a junior tennis academy and a nearby substance-abuse recovery center. The novel touches on many topics, including
addiction and
recovery,
suicide,
family relationships,
entertainment and
advertising,
film theory,
United States-Canada relations (as well as
Quebec separatism), and
tennis. The novel includes 388
endnotes that cap almost a thousand pages of prose, which, together with its detailed fictional world, have led to its categorization as an
encyclopedic novel.