314 “only me and Mom,” from a letter to Corey Washington, January 14, 1986.
314 “…so that word,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, October 31, 1985.
314 “I’m sure I may,” from Leon Neyfakh, “Gerry Howard, on Discovering, Editing, and Hatching David Foster Wallace: ‘He Was the First Person Who Ever Called Me “Mister,”’” New York Observer, September 17, 2008.
314 “I’m an exhibitionist,” from an unedited transcript of the McCaffery interview.
314 “I’ll shine your shoes,” from a letter to Richard Elman, May 1, 1986.
315 “The best thing,” from a response to Marshall Boswell’s questionnaire, May 18, 2002.
315 “sort of an artistic,” from David Lipsky, Although of Course, at 61.
315 “sort of a joyless,” from Lipsky, Although of Course, at 142.
315 “A certain Uncle,” from a letter to Gerry Howard, January 1, 1987.
315 “turns the mouth,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, May 2, 1989.
315 “not working under,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, May 1, 1990.
315 “Title imposed by editor,” from a letter to Brad Morrow, March 18, 1988.
315 “a seventeen-page,” from Lipsky, Although of Course, at 34.
316 “a lot of hooha,” from a letter to Christopher Hager, October 28, 1995.
316 “going to get dwarfed,” from a letter to Brad Morrow, March 7, 1989.
316 “too Pynchonian,” from a letter to Steven Moore, March 7, 1988.
316 “My nose could use,” from a letter to Steven Moore, March 7, 1988.
316 “grows erect, and comes,” from Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow (New York: Penguin, 1995) at 20.
316 “some real personal,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, August 13/14, 1989.
317 “I mean, I got very assertive,” from Lipsky, Although of Course, at 138.
317 “The mere falling,” from Paul de Man, Blindness and Insight: Essays in the Rhetoric of Contemporary Criticism, 2d ed. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983) at 187.
317 “Seek out the artists,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, May 21, 1990.
317 “absence of emotion” and “lack of clarity,” from Mary Karr, “Against Decoration,” Parnassus, Spring 1991.
318 “It doesn’t work like that,” from a response to Marshall Boswell’s questionnaire, May 18, 2002.
318 “crazy and reject me,” from a letter to Deb Larson, December 6, 1993.
319 “think[ing] out loud,” from a letter to Sven Birkerts, November 14, 1993.
320 “The thing is,” from the Scocca interview.
320 “You didn’t get sober,” from a letter to Evan Wright, October 17, 1999.
320 “I think he will fulfill,” from an interoffice memorandum by Jay Jennings to Donna Doherty of Tennis magazine, June 20, 1995.
321 “preserve an oralish,” from a fax to Joel Lovell of Harper’s, circa 1998.
321 “by at least 25 %,” from a letter to Chris Hager, October 28, 1995.
321 “The resolution that reviewers,” courtesy of Chris Hager.
321 “there is an ending,” from an interview with WORD e-zine, May 17, 1996.
321 “a recovering smart aleck,” from the Miller interview.
321 “I don’t think he would have hated it,” from Lipsky, Although of Course, at 231.
321 “Using skills… only Elizabeth has,” from Lipsky, Although of Course, at 5.
322 “A grad student lent me some tapes,” from a letter to Michael Schur, circa 1998.
322 “May the peace and blessing,” from a letter to Don DeLillo, circa July 1999.
323 “We sort of ‘cuddled and talked’ instead,” from a letter to Evan Wright, April 28, 1999.
324 “Huh? I’ve never been ‘promiscuous,’” from a postcard to Nick Solomon, March 27, 2006.
324 “I know her, may have been,” from a letter to Marie Mundaca dated January 27, 1998.
324 “I never gave Kenyon a transcript of it,” from a letter to Christopher Hamacher, February 22, 2006.
325, 326 “What’s tricky is just what you’re asking” and “We all knew and know,” from a letter to Becky Bradway, February 2007.
INDEX
Aaronson, Jaci, 65, 112, 113, 115, 116
Aberration of Starlight (Sorrentino), 56, 116
acne, 17, 20, 35–36
actors and actresses, 125, 224, 244, 245, 320n
addiction, addicts, 94, 101, 106, 113, 127, 135, 150–51, 156, 169, 218, 257, 258, 317n, 319n
Infinite Jest and, 161–62, 171, 182, 183, 214
stories of, 140–41
Wallace’s sponsoring of, 179–80
see also alcohol abuse programs; drugs, recreational; substance abuse recovery
advertising, 91, 94, 120, 123, 148, 259, 318n
African-Americans, 27, 39, 312n, 318n
Aiken, Conrad, 294
alarm systems, 163, 318n
alcohol abuse programs, 105, 106, 113–14, 123, 127, 133, 147, 315n, 316n
Amherst, 13–22, 24–28, 30–33, 35, 37–52, 55, 56, 67, 75, 90, 113, 119, 137–38, 159, 167, 174, 312n, 315n
graduation at, 50–51
humor magazine at, 26–27, 31
opening convocation at, 15
Stearns Hall at, 15–16, 18, 19, 20, 24, 311n
Valentine Dining Hall at, 18, 21, 26, 27, 32, 41, 45
Wallace’s apartment in, 101, 103–4
Wallace’s interview at, 14, 19
Wallace’s teaching at, 84, 88, 99–105, 148, 166
Wallace’s theses at, 39–48, 71
“the Womb” at, 30, 33, 72
Amherst Review, 35, 41
“Another Pioneer” (Wallace), 279
antidepressants, 32, 34, 35, 52, 53, 96, 114–17, 154, 251, 297, 298, 300
Arizona, 51, 145, 196, 272
see also Tucson, Ariz.
Arizona, University of, 50, 52, 55–65, 71–76, 83, 87, 88, 90, 91, 94, 102, 110, 159, 171, 174, 188, 192, 312n, 313n, 314n, 318n
Carter’s workshop at, 74–75, 76, 104
Wallace’s reading at, 105
Wallace’s status at, 96
Wallace’s teaching at, 79–80, 99, 105, 112, 115–16, 148, 176
Aronson, Heather, 57, 65, 73, 74, 112, 113, 116, 314n
Arrival, 84, 219
Ashby, Forrest, 57–58, 73, 101, 103–4, 105, 113, 116, 155, 196
Atlantic, 87, 216, 217
Atlas Books, 260–61
“Balloon, The” (Barthelme), 29–30
bandanas, 64–65, 103, 165, 168, 174, 179, 187, 221, 300