Infinite Boston

[Draft Post, July 16, 2012]

William Beutler:

In July of what might have been Year of Glad, one year ago this week, I traveled to Boston, Massachusetts with the express purpose of visiting as many of the landmarks and lesser known precincts that appear in, or provide inspiration for, the late David Foster Wallace's 1996 novel Infinite Jest as I could manage on a Thursday–Sunday trip. My reasons for doing so will become apparent at a later date, but for now I am pleased to present what I am calling "Infinite Boston": a ruminative travelogue and photographic tour of some fifty or so of these locations, comprising one entry each non-holiday weekday, from now until sometime in early autumn.

Main link
Intro post
First installment
Twitter

Beutler found and photographed about 100 physical locations which are mentioned or alluded to in IJ, or provided inspiration for fictional places. Some of what he will be posting pictures of: Ennet House, Comm. Ave., Ennet's T-stop, 412 Brainerd Rd., Poor Tony's childhood home, St. Columbkill's, what might have served as the inspiration for Antitoi Entertainment, Ryle's Tavern, Shattuck Shelter, and Kenkle & Brandt's Roxbury Crossing apartment.

Beutler acknowledges that he is not the first person to come up with this idea (a week or two after Wallace's death in September 2008, the Boston Globe printed a map of Boston with a handful of IJ-specific sites), but no one has gone into this much depth.