D. Max - Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story - A Life of David Foster Wallace

118 “I have only very recently,” from a letter to Steven Moore, January 18, 1989.

118 “Personally I love sending,” from a letter to Brad Morrow, February 9, 1989.

119 “I figure if I ever,” from a letter to Brad Morrow, March 7, 1989.

119 “95 % Portuguese and Brazilian,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, May 2, 1989.

120 “It’s lovely and crowded” and “I may well be,” from a letter to Steven Moore, April 17, 1989.

121 “the exact part of my nose,” from a letter to Steven Moore, May 1, 1989.

123 “Boston is fun ,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, May 26, 1989.

123 “fuck strangers,” from Lipsky, Although of Course , at 63.

123 “I’m bogged down,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, May 2, 1989.

124 “You’d be surprised,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, May 11, 1989.

125 “Alice has been marvelous,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, May 26, 1989.

125 “was not meant to carry,” from a letter to Steven Moore, August 18, 1989.

125 “Stay Fly, and Shit,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, July 5, 1989.

126 “The thing I like about,” from a letter to Steven Moore, May 12, 1989.

126 “carve out two days,” from a letter to Steven Moore, May 25, 1989.

126 “Fine prep. For the innumerable,” from a letter to Steven Moore, August 18, 1989.

127 “looking into celibatee,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, August 22, 1989.

127 “Thank God I don’t,” from a letter to Kathe Burkhart, August 1, 1989.

127 “You seem doomed,” from a letter to Kathe Burkhart, August 24, 1989.

127 “toddle off with my Get Smart,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, undated, circa summer 1989.

127 “intro german plus,” from a letter to Steven Moore, May 12, 1989.

128 “short journalistic version,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, August 22, 1989.

128 “horribly long,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, August 22, 1989.

128 “This magazine is way,” from a letter by Alice Turner, July 5, 1989.

128 “confusion, misunderstanding, deception,” from a letter to Alice Turner, July 11, 1989.

128 “I must say,” from a letter by Alice Turner, July 17, 1989.

128 “too much impressed,” from Kirkus Reviews , July 15, 1989.

128 “a real brown helmet,” from a letter to Brad Morrow, July 3, 1989.

128 “a dynamic writer of extraordinary talent,” from Jenifer Levin, “Love Is a Federal Highway,” New York Times , November 5, 1989.

129 “What is the fiction writer,” from an essay in Wigwag, republished in Sven Birkerts, American Energies (New York: Random House, 1994).

129 “A lot of it is like being,” from a letter to Steven Moore, September 5, 1989.

130 “the best young writer going,” from a letter to Steven Moore, May 1, 1989.

130 “simply separates sock from pod,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, May 2, 1989.

130 “more than a bubble,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, May 25, 1989.

130 “By merely abstracting,” from a letter by Jonathan Franzen, July 22, 1989.

131 “This Jonathan Franzen guy,” from a letter to Steven Moore, August 25, 1989.

131 “sentimental pretentious pseudo-autobiographical,” and “extensively explained dislike,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, August 13/14, 1989.

132 “The book is not yet out,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, November 1, 1989.

132 “a kind of shrill,” from Lipsky, Although of Course , at 229.

132 “This book is dying,” inscription in book for Rich C., October 17, 1989.

133 “as though the entire,” from Lipsky, Although of Course , at 68.

134 “The lovely medical staff,” from a letter to Brad Morrow, October 30, 1989.

Chapter 5: “Please Don’t Give Up on Me”

135 “Armageddon,” from the McCaffery interview.

136 “hard-core recidivist” and “I am getting booted,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, November 28, 1989.

138 “every bad ’60s novel,” from Lipsky, Although of Course , at 233.

138 “Give me a little time,” from a letter to Steven Moore, January 3, 1990.

138 “I’m not going anywhere,” from a letter to Brad Morrow, December 18, 1989.

138 “I am” and “Most of the guys,” from a letter to Dale Peterson, December 21, 1989.

139 “a motorhead from the South Shore,” from a letter to David Markson, July 29, 1990.

139 “It’s a rough crowd,” “I try hard to listen,” and “I’m scared,” from a letter to Rich C., December 21, 1989.

140 “They gave me Librium,” from a letter to Rich C., August 24, 2000.

141 “nobody is as gregarious,” from Lipsky, Although of Course , at 138.

141 “going from Harvard to here,” from a letter to Dale Peterson, December 21, 1989.

142 “I think part of why WM” and “one a vapid gushy,” from a letter to Steven Moore, January 3, 1990.

143 “The bald fact,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, May 1, 1990.

144 “some laffs and companionship,” from a letter by Jonathan Franzen, May 5, 1990.

144 “a kind of a ripping” and “the humble, unpaid work,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, May 21, 1990.

145 “[f]iction for me is a conversation,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, August 13–14, 1989.

145 “I’d love to hear more,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, May 21, 1990.

146 “so blank and depressed,” from a letter to David Markson, June 7, 1990.

146 “I cannot sit still,” from a letter to David Markson, July 29, 1990.

148 “a hip kids’ college,” from a letter to David Markson, October 18, 1990.

148 “Teaching is going OK,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, September 9, 1990.

148 “We spend most of our time,” from a letter to David Markson, October 18, 1990.

149 “rather like asking the Consul,” from a letter to David Markson, July 29, 1990.

149 “would be ‘sumptuous,’” from a letter to David Markson, October 18, 1990.

149 “They’re all ‘television’ majors,” from a letter to David Markson, January 6, 1991.

149 “I want to start trying,” from a letter to Steven Moore, November 20, 1990.

151 “I’ve gone from thinking,” from a letter to Steven Moore, October 26, 1990.

151 “I am the best copyeditor,” from a letter to Steven Moore, November 20, 1990.

151 “couldn’t even take,” from a letter to Steven Moore, December 14, 1990.

151 “every shred of will,” from a letter to David Markson, April 21, 1991.

152 “flat and strained,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, November 5, 1990.

152 “The people I’ve known there,” from a note to Jonathan Franzen, April 21, 1991.

152 “I think that eventually,” from a letter by Jonathan Franzen, July 22, 1991.

152 “I finally told Mary,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, June 7, 1991.

152 “Nothing is new,” from a letter to Fred Brooke, June 27, 1991.

153 “The apartment is strange,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, October 4, 1991.

153 “back to back in the afternoon,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, October 4, 1991.

154 “Please don’t give up on me,” from a letter to Bonnie Nadell, Spring 1991.

155 “slowly trying some fictional stuff,” from a letter to Forrest Ashby, August 8, 1991.

155 “writing quite a bit and enjoying it,” from a letter to Dale Peterson, August 23, 1991.

157 “mostly just to see what you think,” from a letter to Jonathan Franzen, September 19, 1990.

158 “decided that maybe being really sad,” from Lipsky, Although of Course , at 237.

158 “The key to ’92 is that MMK was most important,” from the marginalia in Wallace’s copy of Ernest Kurtz, The Spirituality of Imperfection .