whether the counter-cartridge exists
This asks whether a counter-cartridge — something that could undo or immunize against the Entertainment — exists at all inside the novel's world. It stays open because the only talk of it is rumor and denial, which leads some readers to relocate the idea onto the novel itself as the true anti-Entertainment.
Adjudication
This crux has an adversarial ledger: Why the Entertainment Kills. The per-reading verdicts are below.
Theories on this crux
| Reading | Verdict |
|---|---|
| The anti-Entertainment & the book-as-samizdat family | open |
Discussed in
- BBC Radio 3, 'Endnotes': David Foster Wallace (2011) — pre-Pale King documentary with 1995 DFW tape, Amy Wallace, Mark Costello, Bonnie Nadell, Don DeLillo, Rick Moody, Curtis White, Charles Harris, and Michael Pietsch
- IJ Book Club Ep. 02: Are they addicted to the process, the secrecy, or the drug? — early-pages session, Orin's phone call through the pump room
- IJ Book Club Ep. 05: Stop her! She stole my heart! — Mario and the U.S.S. Millicent Kent through Helen Steeply's Moment article (pp. ~121–144)
- Mapping the Zone Ep. 03: Mmmyellow? — monthly IJ read-through, pp. ~105–198 (Marathe/Steeply temple, videophony, the garage monologue)
- Rereading David Foster Wallace — New Yorker Festival panel (D.T. Max, Mary Karr, Dana Spiotta, Mark Costello, Deborah Treisman)
- an online forum — full-history archive digest