This map plots the settings and references in Infinite Jest
To start exploring, click a red pin
The novel's primary locations are the Enfield Tennis Academy and Ennet House Drug and Alcohol Recovery House. The two buildings are separated by a hillside in suburban Boston, Massachusetts. Many of the novel's characters are students or faculty at the school or patients and staff at the halfway house.
One reader took a tour of Boston, capturing images of the various locales mentioned in the book. I have marked their exact positions on the map below. For a much larger version, please click here.
Map of Boston
Quebec City - Credit: Gilbert Bochenek
Quebec is a province in east-central Canada, with a predominantly French-speaking identity. The left-wing political group Parti Quebecois advocates independent sovereignty and secession from Canada. The issue of separatism is a prevailing theme in Infinite Jest.
Les Assassins des Fauteuils Roulants (Wheelchair Assassins) are an extremist Québécois separatist group that developed after Canada and Mexico joined the United States in forming the Organisation of North American Nations.
Quebec - Credit: Gilbert Bochenek
Arizona - Credit: Wing-Chi Poon
Orin Incandenza is a punter for the Arizona Cardinals. The novel begins, chronologically, at the end, with Orin's younger brother Hal interviewing for a position at the University of Arizona.
Outside of Tucson is the U.S. Office of Unspecified Services; one of their operatives, Hugh Steeply, meets Remy Marathe in the desert for a conversation which is spread across several chapters.
Lac de Deux Montagnes - Credit: Atilin
'The Lake of Two Mountains' lies in southwestern Quebec, Canada. Originally founded as the Village Municipality of Saint-Eustache-sur-le-Lac in 1921, Deux Montagnes became a city in 1958, changing its name in 1963.