Nardil, 52, 114–17, 154, 251, 297, 298, 300, 322
n
“Neiman-Marcus Nihilism,” 110
New Republic,
264–65
Newsday,
228–29
New York City, 127, 152
Wallace’s visits to, 67, 76, 83, 97–98, 99, 103, 125, 130, 131–32, 173, 174, 196, 202, 207, 208, 220–25, 279, 290–91
New Yorker,
87, 273, 292–93, 323
n
New York Observer,
242–45, 314
n
New York Review of Books,
255
New York Times,
82, 132, 217, 254–55, 279
New York Times Book Review,
81–82, 126, 128–29, 217, 229, 254, 265, 276
New York Times Magazine,
168, 220, 221, 222, 290, 299, 323
n
nicknames, 27, 52, 320
n
Nirvana, 221, 321
n
–22
n
Nogales, 77
nursing homes, 46, 312
n
Obama, Barack, 299
Oberlin College, 13–14
Oblivion
(Wallace), 78, 276–80, 324
n
O’Brien, John, 177, 189, 231
O’Connor, Flannery, 115–16
“Octet” (Wallace), 247
Ohio, 71, 119
Omensetter’s Luck
(Gass), 74
“Order and Flux in Northampton” (Wallace), 118, 138, 316
n
Ostheimer, Martha, 105, 113
paintings, 314
n,
318
n
Pale King, The
(Wallace), 8, 10, 12, 78, 255–59, 262, 274, 276, 280, 289–97, 298, 301, 312
n,
324
n
–25
n
cars in, 33
readings from, 273, 292
writing style and, 320
n
“Panic of Influence, The” (Scott), 255
Papineau, David, 276
Paris Review,
95, 101, 112
Parker, Andrew, 38, 56, 100, 104, 247
Patchett, Ann, 127
Penner, Jonathan, 61–65, 72, 313
n,
314
n
Perkins, Susan, 13, 24, 28, 51, 52, 53, 59, 62, 185, 249
Peterson, Dale, 46, 74–75, 87, 101, 113, 155, 266, 267
Granada House and, 138, 141–42
Wallace’s teaching and, 84, 88, 99–100, 176
Wallace’s thesis and, 43, 48
Phaedo
(Plato), 11
philosophy, 1, 11, 25–26, 28, 29, 38–41, 49, 82, 90, 251, 312
n,
317
n
Wallace’s return to, 119, 126, 127, 132–33, 137
Wallace’s thesis in, 39–41
Wittgenstein and, 32, 44–47, 65
Pietsch, Michael, 171–73, 202, 205–10, 212, 216, 225, 253, 263, 264, 290, 299, 301
Infinite Jest
edited by, 182–83, 190, 191, 193–96, 198–200, 205–6, 234
magazine pieces and, 227–28
short stories and, 245, 247–48, 274, 276–77
Placebo Records, 73, 314
n
plagiarism, 106, 319
n
“Planet Trillaphon as It Stands in Relation to the Bad Thing, The” (Wallace), 34–38, 41, 311
n,
312
n
Plato, 11
Playboy,
87, 96, 106–7, 125, 128, 245
Poag, Doug, 220, 248–49, 252
Poag, Erin, 220, 248–49
poetry, 58, 74, 150, 257, 317
n
of Berkeley, 91, 314
n
of Dickinson, 15, 152
of Eliot, 38, 58
of Keats, 234–35
of Wallace, 3, 4, 5, 23, 74
politics, 21, 25, 212, 259–60, 295–96, 299, 313
n
Pomona College, 266–71, 273, 274, 296
pornography, 29, 123–28, 133, 142, 184, 257, 261, 316
n,
318
n,
323
n
awards ceremony and, 244–45, 323
n
postmodern literature, 29–31, 47, 60, 62, 65, 66, 71, 89, 91, 94, 95–96, 107, 111, 115, 126, 135, 156, 157, 159, 191, 212, 217, 231, 255, 315
n,
318
n
see also
Barth, John; Barthelme, Donald; Pynchon, Thomas
Premiere,
244–45, 323
n
psychiatry, 114, 116, 136, 300
Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung
(Bangs), 122
Publishers Weekly,
216, 253
Puente, Tito, 153
Purple America
(Moody), 213
Pynchon, Thomas, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 43, 53, 56, 60, 67, 76, 85, 105, 156, 192, 213–14, 225, 316
n
Broom
and, 47, 48, 60, 66, 69, 70, 77, 80, 82, 312
n
Vollmann and, 130, 316
n
Wallace’s disappointment with, 152
waste in, 313
n
Rabbit at Rest
(Updike), 184
“Rabbit Resurrected” (Wallace), 184
Ragde, Prabhakar, 276
Rainbow Stories, The
(Vollmann), 130, 213, 316
n
Rawls, John, 119, 133
reading, physics of, 69–70, 182
Reagan, Ronald, 212, 221, 256, 259, 313
n
realism, 38, 39, 50, 60, 61, 84, 92, 101, 115, 153, 212–13, 231, 314
n
religion, 114, 140, 164, 166, 181, 251, 257, 316
n
Review of Contemporary Fiction,
118, 124, 151, 174
Walden’s job at, 189–90
Wallace interview in, 155, 178, 214, 215, 314
n
Wallace’s work in, 109–12, 120, 142, 172
Rich C., 113–14, 115, 251
Girl
and, 132, 133
Wallace’s correspondence with, 105, 117, 118, 138, 139–40, 257, 259
Rolling Stone,
223, 259–60, 262–63
Rose, Charlie, 223, 229–30, 231
rose, frying of, 89, 92, 315
n
Rucker, Rudy, 276
Russell, Bertrand, 26, 126, 251
Ryan, Michael, 138
Sabrina,
26–27, 31
“Sabrina Brothers in the Case of the Hung Hamster, The” (Wallace), 26–27
Saint James, Susan, 85, 106–8
Salinger, J. D., 4, 35, 288
Salon.com
, 229, 253, 259, 264, 321
n
San Francisco, Calif., 105, 113, 224, 316
n
Scott, A. O., 255
Seattle, Wash., 224, 321
n
Sedaris, David, 299
“Self-Harm as a Sort of Offering” (collected later as “Suicide as a Sort of Person”; Wallace), 241–42
September 11 attacks, 262–63
sex, 29, 30, 57–58, 96, 181, 221, 225, 232–34, 241, 247, 277, 323
n,
324
n
advertising and, 123
in fiction, 48, 58, 69, 73, 197, 243
masturbation, 153, 317
n
Signifying Rappers
(Wallace and Costello), 125, 150–51, 208, 323
n
Silverblatt, Michael, 253–54
Simpson, Mona, 96
sincerity, 157, 158, 164, 178, 208, 213, 221, 231, 255, 263, 288, 319
n,
321
n
Slick Rick, 122–23
Smith, Lee, 125, 208
“Solomon Silverfish” (Wallace), 63–64, 313
n
Somerville, Mass., 119–25, 127–28, 130, 133, 136, 142, 145, 146, 155, 316
n,
317
n,
318
n
Sorrentino, Gilbert, 56, 109, 116, 321
n
Spano, Brian, 13
Spark, Debra, 139, 146, 154, 164, 167, 175, 210
Story of My Life
(McInerney), 95, 103
Streitfeld, David, 219
substance abuse recovery, 135–39, 149, 179, 219, 317
n
suffering, 163, 237, 272, 317
n
“Suffering Channel, The” (Wallace), 278–81, 296
suicide, 22, 33, 35, 37, 42, 52, 57, 104, 109, 117, 134, 143, 154, 298–301, 322
n
in fiction, 130, 159, 161, 199, 241–42, 278
Supposedly Funny Thing I’ll Never Do Again, A
(Wallace), 228–29, 232, 234
Suttree
(McCarthy), 166, 213
Swarthmore College, 163–64
Syracuse, N.Y., 152, 164–70, 173, 177, 179–84, 234
tattoos, 138, 147, 249, 282
taxes, 194, 296, 315
n
Taylor, Richard, 40–41
television, 18, 31, 88, 106–11, 152, 218, 233, 252
in fiction, 67, 75–76, 85–86, 103, 104, 106–9, 112
Wallace’s appearances on, 223–24, 229–30, 231
Wallace’s piece on, 148–49, 155–58, 172, 184
Wallace’s watching of, 6, 20–21, 42–43, 51, 94, 101, 104, 113, 116, 120, 213, 220, 251, 283, 286, 311
n
tennis, 8–12, 14, 17, 20, 56, 58, 95, 130, 161, 167, 179, 188, 320
n
in letters, 186, 194
“Tennis, Trigonometry, Tornadoes” (Wallace), 184, 228, 319
n
–20
n
tennis, Wallace’s writing on, 208, 261, 290, 320
n
Tennis
(magazine), 208, 320
n
Texas, 167, 258–59, 261, 265
therapy, 22, 29, 70, 113, 136, 149, 169–70, 177, 179, 181, 233, 283
electroconvulsive, 25, 35, 42, 117, 123
in fiction, 62, 68, 318
n
group, 139, 169
marriage and family, 29, 70, 283
Thich Nhat Hanh, 262
“This Living Hand” (Keats), 234–35
“Three Protrusions” (Wallace), 175
“Ticket to the Fair” (Wallace), 184–87, 319
n,
320
n
Titanic
(movie), 230
tobacco chewing, 103, 163, 165, 202, 222, 232, 251, 315
n
tornadoes, 200, 320
n
Toward the End of Time
(Updike), 243–44
Tractatus Logico-Philosophus
(Wittgenstein), 44, 126, 142, 315
n
Trebek, Alex, 67, 75, 76, 117–18
Tucson, Ariz., 51, 53–65, 71–77, 132, 314
n
apartments in, 54–55, 64, 71–72, 79, 88
cabin near, 115, 167
Wallace’s returns to, 105, 112–16
see also
Arizona, University of
Turner, Alice, 96, 97, 104, 106–7, 108, 125, 128
Wallace’s correspondence with, 106, 173, 210, 211, 227, 230
Twenty-Seventh City, The
(Franzen), 115, 130
Understanding David Foster Wallace
(Boswell), 288, 324
n