Kirn, Walter, 216
Lacy, Stephen, 291–92
Lane, Homer, 294
language, 52, 56, 73, 111, 115, 142, 163, 166, 213, 249–50, 262, 279, 313n, 317n
reality and, 44–45, 46
structures of, 39–40
words, 2–3, 36, 44, 67, 76, 102–3, 163, 230, 316n
see also grammar
Lannan Foundation, 238, 239, 258
Larson, Deb, 137, 147, 163, 318n
Larson, Nat, 24, 27
Las Vegas, Nev., 244–45, 322n
Late Night with David Letterman (TV show), 85–86, 104, 106–9, 156, 179, 196
lawsuits, 79, 107, 150, 161
Leavitt, David, 143, 208
Lelchuk, Alan, 38–39, 44, 61, 62
Less Than Zero (Ellis), 60, 65, 73
Letterman, David, 85–86, 107, 109, 316n
Letterman story, see “My Appearance”
Levin, Jenifer, 128–29
Leyner, Mark, 143, 155–56, 157, 168–69, 172–73, 202, 209, 225, 229, 322n
Liar’s Club, The (Karr), 167
Lighthouse Institute, 179–80
Lipsky, David, 35, 223
literary theory, 38, 56, 59, 69, 74, 100, 288, 313n, 315n
literary universe, map of, 96
literature, purpose of, 164, 168–69, 178
Little, Brown, 321n
Brief Interviews and, 245, 253, 255, 264
Infinite Jest and, 171–73, 191, 194, 195, 208, 211–12, 216, 222, 224, 225, 227, 229, 290
“Little Expressionless Animals” (Wallace), 75–76, 80, 85, 87, 101, 103, 108, 109, 112, 131, 191, 314n
“Lizard, the,” 120
lobsters, 272–73
logic, 25, 28, 30, 32, 40
London Review of Books, 280
Los Angeles, Calif., 52–53, 88, 125, 224, 253–54, 299
Los Angeles Times, 271, 284
Lost in the Funhouse (Barth), 90–91
“Lost in the Funhouse” (Barth), 89–92, 108
Lotus Development, 138, 187
“Love” (Wallace), 63, 311n
Lowry, Malcolm, 148, 166
“Luckily the Account Representative Knew CPR” (Wallace), 78, 79
Lynch, David, 85, 214
“Lyndon” (Wallace), 84–85, 128, 131
MacArthur Foundation, 239, 252, 268
McCaffery, Larry, 155, 178, 214, 215, 314n
McCain, John, 259–60
McCarthy, Cormac, 165–66, 213, 234
McInerney, Jay, 60–61, 67, 82, 103, 110, 217
at Yaddo, 95–96, 97, 101, 103, 179
McLagan, Charles, 30–31, 33–34, 37–38, 50, 88
leather jacket bought from, 58, 79
Wallace’s novel thesis and, 43, 48
McLean Hospital, 134–37, 146–47, 154, 155
McSweeney’s, 264
Maehr, Martin, 9, 14, 20
magazine publishing, 87, 208, 242, 288
see also specific magazines
Mailer, Norman, 77, 96, 152
Maine, 24, 272
Mao II (DeLillo), 224
Marcus, Greil, 122
marijuana, 8, 10–11, 18, 19, 21, 30, 42, 47, 80, 83, 85, 89, 92, 95, 98, 101, 103, 106, 113–14, 149, 150, 152, 249
Big Craig’s view of, 317n
in fiction, 161–62, 175, 193
Markson, David, 120–23, 126, 142
Wallace’s correspondence with, 139, 146, 149, 151–52, 212, 216, 227, 239, 262
Mason, Wyatt, 280
math, 28, 41, 133, 260–61, 274–76, 292
media, 31, 47, 60, 75–76, 85–86, 94, 115, 124, 217–19, 223–26, 239–40, 295, 318n
see also advertising; television
meditation, 257, 262, 291
“Meninas, Las” (Wallace), 318n
metafiction, 88, 90–94, 101, 104, 111, 293
Midwest, 38, 57, 95, 130, 132, 177, 181, 184, 207, 220, 315n
spaces and unstructured world of, 13
virtues of, 1–2, 157
Wallace’s distancing from, 24–25, 64
Miller, Alice, 169–70
Miller, Laura, 229, 321n
minimalist style, 60–61, 62, 66, 87, 110, 111, 212, 313n, 319n
Miriam in Her Forties (Lelchuk), 39
Mississippi River, 231–32
Moby-Dick (Melville), 3–4
modernism, 59–60, 217, 315n
Moody, Rick, 171, 213, 264, 289
Moore, Brian, 164
Moore, Steven, 142, 172, 174
Wallace’s correspondence with, 109, 118, 120, 121, 125, 126, 127, 129, 130, 131, 138, 142, 149–50, 161, 178, 191, 238, 239, 242, 253, 254–55, 274, 282, 316n
Morrow, Brad, 130
Wallace’s correspondence with, 118, 119, 128, 134, 162, 163, 180, 232, 235, 249, 253, 264, 267, 268, 269, 270, 315n, 316n
mother-child bond, 241–42, 319n
Mount Auburn Club, 138
movies, 6, 58, 67, 82, 85, 181, 211, 230, 258, 265, 316n, 317n, 318n
action, 167
in Infinite Jest, 171
porn, 124–25, 244
Wallace’s options for, 82, 225, 322n
murder, 139, 162–63, 318n
music, 30, 31, 43, 59, 72–73, 85, 95, 122–23, 223, 265, 290, 313n, 314n, 321n–22n
“crime jazz,” 153
Infinite Jest compared with, 221
rap, 122–23, 125, 133, 136, 150–51
Must We Mean What We Say? (Cavell), 132
“My Appearance” (Wallace), 85–87, 104, 106–9, 131, 149, 314n