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Mario Incandenza
According to her friend Molly Notkin, Joelle was born as Lucille Duquette in Kentucky. Extremely, even terrifyingly beautiful, Orin’s nickname for Joelle is P.G.O.A.T. (Prettiest Girl Of All Time). Joelle was close with her father, whom she called “My Own Personal Daddy,” until she reached adolescence, when he began treating her like a child and eventually admitted that he was sexually attracted to her. According to Molly, after hearing this revelation Joelle’s mother through acid at her father but missed and hit Joelle, disfiguring her. It is also possible that Joelle makes up this story as an excuse to join U.H.I.D. and wear a face veil, so people are no longer put off by her intense beauty. She wears the veil for the entirety of the novel, so the truth is left unclear. Joelle and Orin have a relationship that ends before most of the action in the book takes place. Joelle had also been enrolled in the Film Studies PhD program at M.I.T., but dropped out. A crack cocaine addict, Joelle attempts to commit suicide in Molly’s bathroom but fails; afterward she ends up in Ennet House, where she develops feelings for Don Gately. Joelle hosts a popular show on WYYY under the name Madame Psychosis. Mario in particular is a fan of her show and upset when she disappears from the air.
Joelle Van Dyne / Madame Psychosis / Lucille Duquette Quotes in Infinite Jest
The Infinite Jest quotes below are all either spoken by Joelle Van Dyne / Madame Psychosis / Lucille Duquette or refer to Joelle Van Dyne / Madame Psychosis / Lucille Duquette. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 69
Quotes
After so long not caring, and then now the caring crashes back in and turns so easily into obsessive worry, in sobriety. A few days before the debacle in which Don Gately got hurt, Joelle had begun to worry obsessively about her teeth. Smoking 'base cocaine eats teeth, corrodes teeth, attacks the enamel directly.
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Was amateurish the right word? More like the work of a brilliant optician and technician who was an amateur at any kind of real communication. Technically gorgeous, the work, with lighting and angles planned out to the frame. But oddly hollow, empty, no sense of dramatic towardness - no narrative movement toward a real story; no emotional movement toward an audience.
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Joelle Van Dyne / Madame Psychosis / Lucille Duquette Quotes in Infinite Jest
The Infinite Jest quotes below are all either spoken by Joelle Van Dyne / Madame Psychosis / Lucille Duquette or refer to Joelle Van Dyne / Madame Psychosis / Lucille Duquette. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 69
Quotes
After so long not caring, and then now the caring crashes back in and turns so easily into obsessive worry, in sobriety. A few days before the debacle in which Don Gately got hurt, Joelle had begun to worry obsessively about her teeth. Smoking 'base cocaine eats teeth, corrodes teeth, attacks the enamel directly.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Was amateurish the right word? More like the work of a brilliant optician and technician who was an amateur at any kind of real communication. Technically gorgeous, the work, with lighting and angles planned out to the frame. But oddly hollow, empty, no sense of dramatic towardness - no narrative movement toward a real story; no emotional movement toward an audience.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
