228 “make extra room,” from a letter to Don DeLillo, June 25, 1997.
228 “basically an enormous,” from an appearance on The Charlie Rose Show, March 27, 1997.
228 “passionate and deeply serious,” from Brigitte Frase, “A Writer Flails His Way Toward Honesty,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 9, 1997.
228 “eager to notate,” from James Wood, review of “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again,” Newsday, 1989.
229 “reveals Mr. Wallace,” from Laura Miller, “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again,” New York Times, March 16, 1997.
229 “Here’s why I’m embarrassed,” from an interview with Charlie Rose, March 27, 1997.
230 “I mean, can you see,” from a letter to a friend, June 27, 1998.
230 “blissfully ignorant of,” from a letter to Alice Turner, December 11, 1995.
231 “I find myself,” from an interview with Charlie Rose, March 27, 1997.
232 “literally crazy,” from a letter to a friend, December 28, 1997.
232 “fetish for conquering,” from a letter to Michael Pietsch, February 19, 1995.
232 “I’ve wanted a black room,” from a letter to Brad Morrow, November 24, 1996.
233 “Real isn’t how,” from Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit (Doubleday, 1958) at 5.
233 “serial high-romance,” from a letter to Rich C., August 24, 2000.
233 “and come close,” from a letter to a friend, December 28, 1997.
234 “tuggy stuff” and “the people selling,” from a letter to a friend, December 3, 1997.
234 “This living hand,” from “This living hand, now warm and capable,” John Keats, Selected Poems (Penguin Classics, 2007) at 237.
235 “writing is going,” from a letter to Don DeLillo, September 7, 1996.
235 “weird little 1-pagers,” from a letter to Brad Morrow, November 11, 1996.
235 “the spiritual emptiness,” from the Stein interview.
235 “jejune,” from a letter to Don DeLillo, September 10, 1995.
236 “The novel is a fucking killer,” quoted in a letter to Don DeLillo, September 19, 1995.
236 “Maybe what I want,” from a letter to Don DeLillo, October 10, 1995.
236 “All right, your first book,” from a letter by Don DeLillo, November 6, 1995.
237 “I’m gearing up,” from a note to Steven Moore, January 13, 1997.
238 “A weird lightning-bolt,” from a letter to Don DeLillo, September 11, 1996.
238 “which means I can take,” from a letter to Steven Moore, October 8, 1996.
238 “basically to have projected,” from a letter to Don DeLillo, May 20, 1997.
239 “nothing if not,” from a letter to Rich C., August 24, 2000.
239 “the blow-jobs the culture gives,” from a letter to David Markson, June 24, 1996.
239 “I am getting some writing,” from a letter to Steven Moore, September 16, 1997.
240 “the version of myself,” “a mask,” “obliterated or something,” “slightest mistake or miscue,” and “the date of the erection/unveiling,” from a letter to a friend, December 3, 1997.
240 “I think I’m very honest,” from a letter to Elizabeth Wurtzel, April 1, 1995.
242 “15 minutes are over,” from a letter to Steven Moore, October 8, 1996.
243 “paw at the reader’s ear,” from a letter to Don DeLillo, January 19, 1997.
244 “It makes me,” from a letter to Alex Pugsley, May 15, 1998.
244 “Writing about real-life,” from a letter to a friend, January 17, 1998.
245 “three days in Bosch’s hell-panel,” from a postcard to Don DeLillo, January 30, 1998.
245 “I don’t think,” from a postcard to Jonathan Franzen, January 10, 1998.
245 “particularly dark,” from a letter to Michael Pietsch, August 17, 1998.
245 “late 90s notoriety,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, August 29, 1998.
246 “Do I,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, August 29, 1998.
247 “a parody (a feminist parody),” from a note to Andrew Parker, April 20, 1998.
247 “I see that Hal,” from a letter by Michael Pietsch, February 6, 1997.
248 “I feel pretty good,” from a letter to Michael Pietsch, August 17, 1998.
248 “not about the thing,” from a letter to a friend, February 22, 1998.
249 “post-partum funk,” from a letter to a friend, October 25, 1998.
249 “I’ve been going,” from a letter to Brad Morrow, April 4, 1998.
249 “We snorkeled,” from a postcard to Jonathan Franzen, November 4, 1998.
250 “Issues of usage,” from a letter to Don DeLillo, November 25, 1998.
250 “It is a sad Christmas,” from a card to Don DeLillo, December 1998.
251 “I always get the giggles,” from a letter to Rich C., August 24, 2000.
251 “I too have used,” from a note to Lee Freeman, Fall 1998.
252 “She was a girl,” from J. D. Salinger, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” in Nine Stories (Little, Brown, 1953) at 3.
253 “a collection of,” from “Overlooked,” Salon, April 12, 1999.
253 “mean to just about,” from an interview with Michael Silverblatt on KCRW, August 12, 1999.
253 “The big Attention eyeball,” from a letter to Brad Morrow, April 4, 1998.
253 “I’m in the midst of,” from a letter to Steven Moore, June 4, 1999.
253 “The Statue Talks!” from a letter to a friend, December 28, 1997.
253 “just want[ed] to,” from the Arden interview.
253 “I wanted to do,” from an interview with Michael Silverblatt on KCRW, August 12, 1999.
254 “full-scale harassment,” from Benjamin Weissman, “A Sleek and Brilliant Monster,” LA Weekly, April 28, 1999.
254 “seemingly inexhaustible bag,” from Andrei Cordescu, “Literary Cure,” Chicago Tribune, May 23, 1999.
254 “another mad scientist,” from Adam Goodheart, “Please Phrase Your Answer in the Form of a Question,” New York Times, June 20, 1999.
254 “No doubt these,” from Michiko Kakutani, “Calling Them Misogynists Would Be Too Kind,” New York Times, June 1, 1999.
254 “The NY Times just,” from a letter to Steven Moore, June 4, 1999.
255 “meta-ironic” and “Does Wallace’s work,” from A. O. Scott, “The Panic of Influence,” New York Review of Books, February 20, 2000.
255 “The difference,” from Seth Stevenson, “David Foster Wallace’s Hideous Men,” Slate, June 3, 1999.
257 “We fill pre-existing forms,” from Frank Bidart, “Borges and I,” in Desire: Poems (FSG, 1999) at 9.
257 “weird cultish Sikh,” from a letter to Rich C., August 24, 2000.
258 “a long march,” from a letter to Don DeLillo, November 3, 1999.
258 “visually raw,” from a letter to Don DeLillo, March 21, 2000.
258–59 “Almost everything I,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, circa summer 2000.
259 “I’m scared I can’t,” from a letter to Rich C., September 19, 2000.
260 “the brief weird excitement,” from the optional foreword to “Up Simba,” in Consider the Lobster (Little, Brown: 2005) at 159.
260 “three months that tickled” and “I do not know,” from a letter to Don DeLillo, March 21, 2000.
261 “I know [enough],” from a letter to Jesse Cohen, June 29, 2000.
261 “on the side” and “Did you know,” from a fax to Jesse Cohen, August 4, 2000.
261 “Cantor and the sheer,” from a fax by Jesse Cohen, August 7, 2000.