191 “HOPE THIS IS READABLE,” from a letter to Sven Birkerts, November 14, 1993.
191 “80 % different from Little Brown’s,” from a letter to Steven Moore, January 25, 1994.
191 “The trick in a case like this,” from a letter by Michael Pietsch, November 18, 1993.
191 “no longer manufactured outside like Eastern Europe” and “A lot of this,” from a letter to Michael Pietsch, January 16, 1994.
194 “I’m mortified to have essentially,” from a letter to Michael Pietsch, April 2, 1994.
195 “extremely analgesic,” from a letter to Michael Pietsch, April 29, 1994.
196 “handcuffed to a wrist,” from a letter to Michael Pietsch, May 27, 1994.
196 “I am sad and empty” and “stuff in the mss,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, July 23, 1994.
198 “ominous hernia-jokes,” from a postcard to Jonathan Franzen, circa July 1994.
198 “having this monster in my head,” from a letter by Michael Pietsch, October 21, 1994.
199 “Hal’s breakdown, the one,” from a letter by Michael Pietsch, November 30, 1994.
199 “I guess maybe” and “frontispiece,” from a letter to Michael Pietsch, February 19, 1995.
199 “we know exactly,” from a response to a letter by Michael Pietsch, circa May 1995.
200 “it’s not,” from a letter by Michael Pietsch, May 12, 1995.
200 “I bought a house,” from a letter to Don DeLillo, May 1995.
202 “Prospects for an acute and fecund,” from a postcard to Jonathan Franzen, circa March 1995.
203 “I go through a loop,” from a letter to Elizabeth Wurtzel, circa April 1995.
205 “I am uncomfortable,” from a letter to Don DeLillo, circa May 1995.
205 “you feel incipient bladder,” from a letter to Michael Pietsch, circa May 1995.
205 “a state of editorial ecstasy,” from a letter by Michael Pietsch, May 12, 1995.
205 “Here’s what happened,” and “I’m prepared to thumbwrestle,” from a letter by Michael Pietsch, May 22, 1995.
206 “Potential insertion into page 1229,” from a fax to Michael Pietsch, June 11, 1995.
208 “a cover that’s (troublingly, to me),” from a letter to Don DeLillo, September 10, 1995.
208 that all the magazine editors in New York, from the Schmeidel interview.
208 “a little stupider and shmuckier,” from Lipsky, Although of Course, at 41.
209 “your/our copyeditor,” from a letter to Michael Pietsch, February 19, 1995.
210 “To copyeditor: Hi,” from a letter to Mike Mattil, undated, circa fall 1995.
210 “in the 8th circle of page-proof-proofreading hell,” from a letter to Debra Spark, October 1995.
210 “The more I proof these page proofs,” from a letter to Michael Pietsch, October 1995.
210 “about 47,000 typos,” from a letter to Alice Turner, December 11, 1995.
210 “about 712,000,” from R. Z. Sheppard, “712,000 Typos!” Time, February 19, 1996.
211 “wobbling like a vestibulitiser’s,” from a letter to Mike Mattil, October 8, 1995.
211 “wholly ominous given our family’s,” from a letter to Alice Turner, December 11, 1995.
211 “fucking, fucking nightmare,” from Lipsky, Although of Course, at 248.
211 “‘Masterpiece’? I’m 33 years old,” from a letter to Michael Pietsch, September 20, 1995.
212 “About the holes and lacunae,” from a letter to David Markson, November 28, 1995.
216 “brilliant but somewhat bloated,” from Publishers Weekly, January 29, 1996.
216 “almost certainly the biggest and boldest,” from Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 1996.
216 “mov[ed] toward us like an ocean disturbance,” from Sven Birkerts, “The Alchemist’s Retort,” The Atlantic, February 1996.
216 “not for the faint-hearted,” from Library Journal, January 1996.
216 “Challenging and provocative,” from John Harper, “A Wordy, Wacky World View,” Orlando Sentinel, March 17, 1996.
216 “brashly funny and genuinely moving,” from Bruce Allen, “Future Imperfect,” Chicago Tribune, March 24, 1996.
216 “the funniest writer of his generation,” from Jonathan Dee, “Infinite Fest,” The Village Voice, March 1996.
216 “Next year’s book awards,” from Walter Kirn, “Long Hot Novel,” New York, February 12, 1996.
216 “that sneery thing in Esquire,” from a letter to David Markson, November 28, 1995.
216 “Hype of the Huge,” from Will Blythe, Esquire, December 1995.
216 “I’m very happy with the launch,” from a letter by Michael Pietsch to Bonnie Nadell, January 23, 1996.
217 “The overall effect,” from Jay McInerney, “Infinite Jest,” New York Times Book Review, March 3, 1996.
217 “The book seems to have been written,” from Michiko Kakutani, “A Country Dying of Laughter. In 1,079 Pages,” New York Times, February 3, 1996.
218 “To say that,” from Birkerts, “The Alchemist’s Retort.”
218 “This is sort of what it’s like to be alive,” quoted in Mark Caro, “The Next Big Thing,” Chicago Tribune, February 23, 1996.
219 “Sauron’s great red eye,” from a postcard to Don DeLillo, August 21, 2001.
219 “a whole wall of letters that help me or are important,” from a letter to Don DeLillo, March 16, [1996].
219 “I went with friends,” from David Gates, “Levity’s Rainbow,” Newsweek, February 12, 1996.
220 “They pretend they’re kissing you,” from Frank Bruni, “The Grunge American Novel,” New York Times Magazine, March 24, 1996.
220 “or the Illinois version,” from Valerie Stivers, “The Jester Holds Court,” stim.com, May 1996.
221 “there’s a way that it seems to me,” from an appearance on The Charlie Rose Show, March 27, 1997.
221 “When I was younger,” from the Scocca interview.
222 “not a hip downtown kind of book,” from a letter by Bonnie Nadell to Beth Davey, November 3, 1995.
222 “I think I made it a project not to look,” from Lipsky, Although of Course, at 178.
223 “packed and scary,” from a letter to Don DeLillo, circa March 16, 1996.
224 “you guys made your bones,” from a letter to Don DeLillo, circa March 16, 1996.
224 “brain fart,” from Lipsky, Although of Course, at 98.
224 “a serious asshole,” reading “‘I’ve Cheated,’” from Lipsky, Although of Course, at 99.
225 “It reminds me of the exhilaration,” from a letter by Michael Pietsch, April 18, 1996.
225 I…tried my best to tell the truth,” from a letter to Don DeLillo, circa March 16, 1996.
226 “WAY MORE FUSS,” from a letter to JT Jackson, circa April 1996.
Chapter 7: “Roars and Hisses”
227 “weird warm full,” from Lipsky, Although of Course, at 283.
227 “lumber salesm[e]n and Xerox,” from a letter to Alice Turner, December 11, 1995.
227 “The Icky Brothers,” from a letter to a friend, December 28, 1997.
227 “horses in the yard,” from a letter to Don DeLillo, March 16, 1996.
227 “Mostly I try to remember,” from a letter to David Markson, June 24, 1996.
227, 228 “spasms-trips” and “the lump,” from a letter to Michael Pietsch, April 10, 1996.