41 “It seems sort of cheaty,” from a letter to Corey Washington, July 15, 1983.
43 “Blob-like” and “out of control,” from a letter to William Kennick, February 4, 1985.
44 “I got to wondering,” from a letter to Gerry Howard, January 21, 1986.
44 “the loss of the whole external world,” from the McCaffery interview.
44 “The world is everything,” from Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophus (New York: Cosimo Classics, 2010) at § 1.
44 “This book will perhaps,” from Wittgenstein’s Tractatus, at 27.
45 “the sensitive tale,” from the McCaffery interview.
Chapter 3: “Westward”
50 “Instead of the ‘guru’ system,” from a letter by Mary Carter, February 12, 1985.
50 “I don’t have any money,” from a letter to John Leggett of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, April 9, 1985.
53 “a vast sprawl,” from Pynchon, Crying of Lot 49, at 14.
53, “A real blast,” “I’m not ready or able,” “a kind of urine-yellow,” and “Perhaps only
54 half true,” from a letter to Corey Washington, August 25, 1985.
54 “replete with poisonous spiders,” from a letter to William Kennick, undated, circa November 6, 1985.
54 “You use a propane torch,” from a letter to Corey Washington, August 25, 1985.
55 “trapping little inspirations,” from “Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way.”
55 “I love it here, Corey,” from a letter to Corey Washington, September 14, 1985.
57 “I was a prick,” from Loren Stein, “David Foster Wallace: In the Company of Creeps,” Publishers Weekly, May 3, 1999.
60 “rung his cherries,” from an interview with Laura Miller for Salon.com, March 9, 1996.
65 “I’ve been advised,” from a letter to Frederick Hill Associates, September 28, 1985.
66 “I defy you,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, November 7, 1985.
66 “I would have called myself Seymour Butts,” from a letter to Don DeLillo, circa February 2, 2001.
67 “as a newly hatched chick,” from Leon Neyfakh, “Gerry Howard on Discovering, Editing, and Hatching David Foster Wallace, New York Observer, September 17, 2008.
67 “not, of course, letting her know,” from a letter to Corey Washington, December 30, 1985.
68 “If this seems fast” and “neurotic and obsessive,” from a letter to Gerry Howard, January 21, 1986.
68 “This Carver/Apple joke” and “The more you condense,” from a letter by Gerry Howard, January 10, 1986.
69 “while potentially disgusting” and “a whole set of readers’ values,” from a letter to Gerry Howard, January 19–20 1986.
70 “You cheat yourself,” from a letter by Gerry Howard, January 10, 1986.
70 “made an enormous, haunting impression,” from a letter to Gerry Howard, January 19–20, 1986.
70 “I admit to a potentially irritating,” from a letter to Gerry Howard, January 16, 1986.
70 “geriatrics emerge,” from a letter to Gerry Howard, January 16, 1986.
70 “I am young and confused,” from a letter to Gerry Howard, January 19–20, 1986.
71 “It is a great joy,” from a letter by Gerry Howard, to Bonnie Nadell, January 13, 1986.
71 “Rick, Lenore, and the G.O.D.,” from a letter to Gerry Howard, January 16, 1986.
74 “two broken cars limping across the desert,” from Gale Walden, “Road Trip,” published in Wisconsin Review, 2010.
74 “the next three years at least,” from a letter to Corey Washington, September 14, 1985.
76 “Wallace does not,” from an essay in Wigwag, republished in Sven Birkerts, American Energies (New York: Random House, 1994).
77 “It’s hot, here,” from a letter to Corey Washington, July 13, 1986.
77 “copy-edit the copy-editor,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, April 29, 1986.
77 “Hoping Very Much I’ll Never,” from a letter to Gerry Howard, July 2, 1986.
77 “No autobiography, no cocaine,” from a letter by Gerry Howard to Don DeLillo, July 16, 1986.
77 “As wild elk produce many elkins” and “You must not,” from a letter by Richard Elman, February 20, 1986.
77 “I would be hard put,” from a letter by Richard Elman to Gerry Howard, December 19, 1986.
79 “going through both a lawsuit,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, March 28, 1987.
79, 80 “I got darned little work done” and “I leave at dawn,” from a letter to Corey Washington, September 6, 1986.
81 “a puerile Pynchon,” from Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 1986.
81 “The guy seemed downright angry,” from a letter to Gerry Howard, January 2, 1987.
81 “Maybe they never found out,” from a letter to Gerry Howard, January 30, 1987.
81 “a hot book…a terrific novel,” from Rudy Rucker, “From the Mixed-Up Files of Lenore Beadsman,” Washington Post, January 11, 1987.
81 “an enormous surprise,” from Caryn James, “Wittgenstein is Dead and Living in Ohio,” New York Times, March 1, 1987.
82 “rich reserves,” from Michiko Kakutani, “Life in Cleveland, 1990,” New York Times, December 27, 1986.
82 “I didn’t think,” from a letter to Gerry Howard, January 2, 1987.
82 “kind of down,” from a letter to Gerry Howard, January 2, 1987.
82 “Bonnie, I’ve never had more difficulty,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, March 28, 1987.
82 “You would think,” from Helen Dudar, “A Whiz Kid and His Wacky First Novel,” Wall Street Journal, April 24, 1987.
83 “Nice, in a condescending way,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, April 30, 1987.
83 “I’m so nervous about the reading,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, March 28, 1987.
83 “The reading went really well,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, April 6, 1987.
84 “I guess the engagement,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, April 14, 1987.
84 “Could you give,” from a letter to Dale Peterson, circa April 18, 1987.
84 “I’m not interested in fiction,” quoted in William R. Katovsky, “Hang ’Im High,” Arrival, April 1987.
85 “It was my first hint,” from Lipsky, Although of Course, at 170.
85 “w/r/t the fact,” from a letter to Gerry Howard, April 25, 1988.
87 “try…to fuck,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, April 6, 1987.
87 “I am working on a lot,” from a letter to Dale Peterson, February 15, 1986.
87 “I think they’re good,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, February 11, 1986.
87 “Not a nice noise, Bonnie,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, September 7, 1987.
87 “too smart for its own good,” from Alice Turner, quoted in a letter to Bonnie Nadell, April 30, 1987.
87 “Wallace clearly is,” from a letter by C. Michael Curtis to Bonnie Nadell, June 2, 1986.
88 “cruising…at a wildly” and “Maybe to Breadloaf,” from a letter to JT Jackson June 9, 1987.
Chapter 4: Into the Funhouse
89 “God I feel lucky,” from a letter to JT Jackson, June 9, 1987.
90 “It is…important to” from John Barth, “Lost in the Funhouse” in Lost in the Funhouse (Anchor, 1988) at 74.
90 “The diving would make” from Barth, “Lost in the Funhouse,” at 82.
91 “this tiny, infinitely dense thing,” from Lipsky, Although of Course, at 229.
95 “I’ve never been,” from a postcard to JT Jackson, August 6, 1987.