tennis-book + AA-book fused by rewrite
This asks whether Infinite Jest began as two separate books — a comic tennis novel and an AA/recovery novel — later fused by a rewrite. It is contested because its two halves rest on different grades of evidence: the two-strata picture on the biographical record, the fusing mechanism on a single, self-flagged recollection awaiting manuscript study.
Adjudication
This crux has an adversarial ledger: The Book's Composition. The per-reading verdicts are below.
Theories on this crux
| Reading | Verdict |
|---|---|
| Minor structure & design cruxes | favored |
| IJ is two books — comic/tennis and AA — fused by a rewrite pass | favored |