David Foster Wallace’s Balancing Books: Fictions of Value

Both Flesh and Not, 8, 12, 14, 47, 49, 116, 131, 156, 158, 191, 207, 240; “Deciderization 2007—a Special Report,” 2, 29, 171–73; “The Empty Plenum,” 7, 97, 196; “Fictional Futures and the Conspicuously Young,” 61

Braveheart (film), 262–63n34

Bresnan, Mark, 99

Brick, Howard, 141

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, 16–17, 28, 136–61; “Adult World (I),” 138–39, 149–50, 153–59; “Adult World (II), 158; “Asian Flu,” 139, 155–56; “B.I. #14” 143; “B.I. #20/‘Granola-Cruncher,’” 136, 150–51; “B.I. #42,” 145–46; “B.I. #48,” 149; “B.I. #59,” 151; coins, 145–47, 154–56; contracts, 148–49; “Church Not Made with Hands,” 205; “Datum Centurio,” 137; “Death Is Not the End,” 141; “The Depressed Person,” 147–48, 151; financialization, 137–38; “Forever Overhead,” 141–42, 168; and ground, 142, 145; and love, 137, 150–51; and neoliberalism, 137–38, 144, 154; numbers and numbering, 140; “Octet,” 133–34; 140, 143–45, 150–52, 159; “On His Deathbed…,” 149–50; the other, 136, 154; paratextual interpretations of, 139–40; and “price,” 143, 145, 199; Q, 136–37, 149, 157, 160; “A Radically Condensed History of Postindustrial Life,” 141; “Signifying Nothing,” 147; stochastic mathematics and financial modeling, 140–41, 155–60, 275n26; structure of, 138, 140–41; “Suicide as a Sort of Present,” 150; and value, 137, 139–41, 145–46, 151, 154–56, 160; and work, 141; “Yet Another Example of the Porousness of Certain Borders (VI), 147; “Yet Another Example…(XXIV),” 151

Broom of the System, The, 18, 26–27, 171; Clarice and John Beadsman, 53; LaVache Beadsman, 38, 40, 53–55, 270n28; Lenore Beadsman, 3, 9, 23, 35–36, 39–41, 46–53, 58–60, 79, 97, 121; bedesmen, 58; as bildungsroman, 38; Norman Bombardini, 22, 40, 46–47, 60, 69; broom as roughage, 36; and capitalism, 37, 40–42, 47–48; contracts and contractualized language, 44–46; Biff Diggerence, 49, 51; East Corinth, 43; Great Ohio Desert (G.O.D.), 41–43, 55–56; greenhouse motif, 40–44, 92; and ground, 48–50; and Hegel, 38, 54–55; incompleteness (intentional), 261n23; initials, meanings of, 43, 46, 50, 55, 261n22; jargon, 50; Nervous Roy Keller, 55; and Lolita (Nabokov), 57; the lottery, 40, 58–60, 112; and McTeague (Norris), 60; Shakers and Shaker Heights Nursing Home, 42, 261n18; socioeconomic context (as Wallace was writing), 36–37; Stone-cipher, 45–46, 53, 58, 221; Hart Lee Sykes, 56–58, 92; televangelists, 56–58; Rick Vigorous, 35, 44, 46, 57–60, 205–6; and value, 47–53; and work, 35–36, 38–40, 42–43, 48–49, 53–57; Raymond Zusatz, 41–42, 44, 56, 77, 100

Brown, Wendy, 144

Buell, Lawrence, 90, 273n60

Burn, Stephen J., 4, 5, 89, 94, 104, 114, 124–25, 128, 133, 153, 177, 181, 201, 206, 226, 258n45

Calvinism, 22, 91–92, 116

Campbell, Joseph, 207, 265n21

Capital (Marx), 57

capitalism, 4, 25–26, 37, 40–42, 47–48, 92, 99, 116, 145, 201, 260n5; “casino capitalism,” 157; “disaster capitalism,” 156; financialization, 137–38, 229–30. See also economic history and concepts

Carlisle, Greg, 205

Carter, Jimmy, 211–12

Cavell, Stanley, 6–7, 48–49, 52, 142, 255n17, 266n23

celebrity, 168

Chomsky, Noam, 131, 273n63

Christianity, 56, 58, 81, 87, 92, 121, 124–25, 173, 195, 206–9, 214–15, 230–31. See also Protestant work ethic

Circle, The (Eggers), 216–18

Clare, Ralph, 201

Clinton, Bill, 101, 104, 156

coins and coinage, 72–73, 77–78, 81, 84, 90, 104, 108–11, 113, 145–47, 154–56, 170, 175–78, 201, 228–33, 236–37, 270n36; etymology, 177–78

commodification, 16, 45, 52, 80, 85, 147, 201, 207

commonwealth, 19, 24, 59–60, 70–71, 93, 127–34, 211–13, 223, 234, 238, 246

Commonwealth (Hardt and Negri), 24–25, 99

computation and computers, 3–4, 62, 68, 80, 139, 158–61, 173, 221, 240–42

Consider the Lobster, 3, 7, 12, 21, 61, 65, 108, 117, 125, 176, 189, 211; “Authority and American Usage,” 172, 247–48, 273n63; “The View from Mrs. Thompson’s,” 178–79

contracts, 24, 44–46, 106–7, 148–49, 218–23

Conversations with David Foster Wallace (Burn), 4, 13–14, 19–20, 22, 34–36, 38, 41–42, 45, 56, 59, 74, 81, 90, 124, 133, 136–37, 161, 167, 171, 173, 196, 204, 210, 226, 233, 247

Conte, Joseph, 90

Coover, Robert, 79–80, 266n26

Corinthians, Paul’s epistles to, 43, 214

“Crash of ’69,” (short story), 66–70, 118, 130, 149, 182, 264n9

Crying of Lot 49, The (Pynchon), 150, 260n12, 281n24

Danielewski, Mark Z., 139

debt, 21, 61, 84–85, 230, 234, 267n32, 284n49

“Deciderization 2007—a Special Report” (essay), 2, 29, 171–73

DeLillo, Don, 21, 25, 28, 41, 63, 146, 170, 179, 206, 220, 222, 245, 261n22, 269n27, 282n30, 283n42

Derrida, Jacques, 51, 120, 152, 202–3, 256n33, 262n30

despair, 89, 167–68, 170

Devil and Commodity Fetishism, The (Taussig), 145

différance, 51

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, 119

Dust Bowl, 71

economic history and concepts, 6, 19–20, 23–24; bonds, 55, 156, 235; credit, 1, 21, 84–85; in “Crash of ’69,” 66–70; currency trading, 155; debt, 21, 61, 84–85, 230, 234, 267n32, 284n49; financial crises, 63–65, 101, 138–39, 156, 250; financialization, 137–38, 229–30; Glass-Steagall Act, 278–79n27; God and gold, 264n11; the Great Depression, 63–65, 67, 71, 75–76, 84, 211; NAFTA, 101–3; the New Deal, 24, 63, 65, 71, 74–76, 78, 181; Return on Investment (ROI), 156; trade and free trade, 93, 101–3; transactions, artistic versus economic, 20–21; the welfare state, 23–24, 63–64, 74, 80, 182. See also capitalism; money; neoliberalism; tax and taxation

Eggers, Dave, 203, 216–18; 276n2

Eichenwald, Kurt, 184–85

Eliot, T. S., 73–74

Ellis, Bret Easton, 190

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 7, 125, 206

“Empty Plenum, The” (essay), 7, 97, 196

End of the Road, The (Barth), 13

End Zone (DeLillo), 13, 41, 146, 206

energy, 21–22, 35–36, 40, 47, 80, 123, 144, 192, 211, 229, 232, 246

“E Unibus Pluram” (essay), 5, 44, 64, 69, 79–80, 125, 160, 172, 217, 223–25, 248

Evans, David H., 114–15

Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace (Max), 19–20, 25–26, 39, 63, 79, 82, 121, 124, 133, 150, 166, 186–87, 200, 208, 216, 241, 243, 249–50, 259n1, 265n19, 279n1

Everything and More, 4, 10, 94, 219, 246

Exorcist, The (film), 176–77

Fate, Time, and Language, 19, 157, 265n16, 275n28

feet and legs, 9, 96–97, 105, 131, 142, 210, 212–14, 229

Fest, Bradley J., 101

“Fictional Futures and the Conspicuously Young” (essay), 44, 61, 276n30

Fitzpatrick, Kathleen, 281n26

Franzen, Jonathan, 5, 25, 29–30, 208, 220, 243, 248

Freud, Sigmund, 6, 112, 131, 143, 155, 182, 227–28, 233

Freudenthal, Elizabeth, 89, 96

Gaddis, William, 21, 91–92, 107, 116, 174, 220, 268n14

games and sports, 8, 65–66, 80, 89. 94, 96, 98–100, 104, 106, 116, 119, 149, 162, 174; Eschaton, 94, 106; tennis, 98–100, 116

Garner, Bryan, 247–48

Gass, William, 120–21, 265n19

Genette, Gerard, 139

gifts and giving, 83–84, 102, 109, 111–12, 120–26, 165–66, 193

Gift, The (Hyde), 11, 122, 124–25, 127, 164, 195, 261n18

Giles, Paul, 11, 17, 22, 29, 183, 206

Girl with Curious Hair (story collection), 22, 64, 80, 90; “Everything Is Green,” 72; “Here and There,” 7, 13, 16, 80–81, 152, 163; “John Billy,” 71–73, 95, 110, 119; “Little Expressionless Animals,” 80, 157–58, 275n29; “Lyndon,” 78–80; and “radiance,” 80–81; “Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way,” 13, 16, 15–16, 61, 73–78, 80–87, 90, 95, 102, 122, 137, 157, 224

Glass-Steagall Act, 278–79n27

Godden, Richard, 6, 25, 201, 219, 227, 229–30, 237, 281n26, 284n49

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang, 117

Gompert, Kate, 106, 220, 270n33, 277n3, 283n37

Goux, Jean-Joseph, 20

grace, 90, 113–19, 210

Graeber, David, 21, 145

grammar, 131, 273n63

Grapes of Wrath, The (Steinbeck), 265n19

Grausman, Daniel, 101

Gravity’s Rainbow (Pynchon), 39, 65, 91, 100, 102, 157, 239

Great Depression, 63–65, 67, 71, 75–76, 84, 211

Great Gatsby, The (Fitzgerald), 90

“Greatly Exaggerated” (essay), 120–21

Great Society, 78–79

ground/grounding, 2, 8–9, 16–18, 131; in Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, 142, 145; in The Broom of the System, 48–50; in Infinite Jest, 94–96, 98, 105; in Oblivion, 170; in The Pale King, 206–7, 210, 213–14; weight, 97, 100, 142, 190, 200. See also feet and legs

Hammermeister, Kai, 193

Hamlet (Shakespeare), 6, 131, 192

Hardt, Michael, 24–25, 99

Harris, Charles B., 13

Harris, Thomas, 151

Harvey, David, 37, 138, 150, 156, 182, 259n5

Heidegger, Martin, 15–16, 43, 71, 99, 281n19

Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 22, 38, 54–55, 105

Heise, Ursula K., 179

Heracles, 89, 124

“Here and There” (short story), 7, 13, 16, 80–81, 152, 163

Hogg, Emily J., 280n2, 284n50

Holland, Mary K., 19, 99–100, 254n9, 274n7

Houser, Heather, 101

Hungerford, Amy, 206

Hyde, Lewis, 11, 122, 124–25, 127, 195, 261n18

“…I EXIST,” 7, 9, 36, 97, 148–49, 196–97

immanence, 9–10, 45, 208, 221, 226, 261n21

Infinite Jest, 9, 27, 72, 78, 88–134; AA (Alcoholics Anonymous), 107, 111, 113, 114–15, 117–18, 122, 124, 128; A.F.R., 103; addiction and addicts, 97–98, 105–8, 116, 119; annular fusion, 96, 101; and balance, 92, 95–96; chaos, 91; cleaning, 89–90; commonwealth, 93, 127–34; coins and coinage, 104, 108–11, 113, 270n36; Geoffrey Day, 107, 113; Aubrey deLint, 110; Guillaume DuPlessis, 111, 113; Enfield, 93–94, 127; Ennet House, 88, 118, 123, 271n46; the Entertainment, 102, 106, 108–9, 113–14, 118–19, 132; Ken Erdedy, 94, 98, 102; Eschaton, 94, 106; E.T.A. (Enfield Tennis Academy), 89, 95–96, 99–100, 110, 127; Tiny Ewell, 124; fascism, 107, 270n34; food, 123; freedom, 103, 107, 115; Don Gately, 7, 88–90, 93, 97, 110–12, 115–19, 121–24, 131–33, 205, 272n49; Johnny Gentle, 103, 107; gifts and giving, 102, 109, 111–12, 120–26; Doony Glynn, 92–93; Kate Gompert, 106, 220, 270n33, 277n3, 283n37; grace, 90, 113–19; Great Concavity, 102–3, 132; The Great Gatsby, 90; and ground/grounding, 94–96, 98, 105; group empathy, 129–30; “Himself” (James Incandenza), 100–101, 106, 110, 132; Avril Incandenza, 95, 113, 123; Hal Incandenza, 89, 93–95, 97, 105–6, 110–111, 123, 128–29; Mario Incandenza, 96, 101, 110; Orin Incandenza, 96, 100; initials, meanings of, 112–13; joie, 94–95; Barry Loach, 109; Rémy Marathe, 14, 103–5, 270n28; neoliberalism, 23, 90, 93, 101–3; O.N.A.N., 101, 103, 128; organization of, 91; Michael Pemulis, 102, 110, 129–30; Poor Tony Krause, 108, 110, 129, 205, 273n60; Quabbin Reservoir, 128–29; Raquel Welch mask, 114–15; Reconfiguration, 103, 109; religious faith in, 114; Ted Schacht, 99–100; and the self, 92–93, 95, 97, 99, 108, 110; slavery, 105–7; Steeply, 14, 103–4, 269n27; Subsidized Time, 19, 103; as tall tale/legend, 123–24; trade and free trade, 93, 101–3; Tristan and Iseult, 255n22; and utilitarianism, 14, 103–4; and value, 89–91, 93–95, 97–98, 108–11, 128–29, 131; Joelle van Dyne, 97, 113–14; Veterans Day, 207; wallets and purses, 107–8, 111–12; “weight,” 97, 100; and work, 89, 91–93, 98–99, 116–18, 122; yrstruly, 97, 102

insurance, 74, 169, 178–87, 180–87, 278n16; health insurance, 182–87; HQ, 180; risk, 119, 156, 178–80, 184, 278n18

Internal Revenue Service (IRS), 1, 23, 199, 201, 213, 225–28, 230, 237–38, 283n43

Jameson, Fredric, 25, 38

James, William, 114

jargon, 50

“John Billy,” (short story), 71–73, 95, 110, 119

Johnson, Lyndon, 78–80

Jones, Robert C., 14

Joyce, James, 26, 67, 73, 155, 169, 222, 236

Justice, Donald, 167–68, 277n4

Kafka, Franz, 16, 60, 96, 108, 174, 196–97

Kant, Immanuel, 193

Keats, John, 20, 57, 196

Kelly, Adam, 4, 5, 120, 201, 275n17

Kierkegaard, Søren, 147, 208, 274n16

King, Stephen, 151

Kirn, Walter, 169

Kirsch, Adam, 24

Klein, Naomi, 156

Konstantinou, Lee, 4, 25, 114, 251, 274n17, 285n7

La Berge, Leigh Clare, 26, 254n15, 259–60n5

language: clarity in language aligned with truth, 50; as commonwealth, 91, 127, 134, 175; as contractual object, 219; as currency, 20, 129; fullness/plenitude, 130–31, 146; as immanence, 45, 261n21; as indivisible good, 91; limits of mathematical precision in, 51; money’s value versus language’s value, 68, 129; nature of, 45; possessed by, 132; problem of, 42; as property, 127–28; as shared asset, 91; words as consumable objects, 128

LeClair, Tom, 136, 140

LeMahieu, Michael, 13, 82

Lethem, Jonathan, 124–27, 272n59

Letzler, David, 172

Libra (DeLillo), 222, 283n42

Lingan, John, 91–92

“Little Expressionless Animals” (short story), 80, 157–58, 275n29

logical positivism, 12–13, 51, 68

Lolita (Nabokov), 57

Lord of the Rings (Tolkien), 280n11

love, 135–37, 150–51

Lynch, David, 67–68, 135, 177, 207, 234

Lyotard, Jean-Francois, 12

Magritte, René, 68

Mailer, Norman, 125

Manifest Destiny, 73, 77

Markson, David. See “The Empty Plenum.”

Marx and Marxist theory, 6, 25, 38, 57, 90, 229, 245

mathematics, 4, 10, 14, 16, 28, 46, 50, 94, 104, 135–38, 144, 151, 199; stochastic mathematics, 140–41, 155–60, 275n26

Max, D. T., 19, 82, 121, 133, 138, 150, 166, 186, 259n1, 263n3, 264n12, 265n19, 271n39, 272n49, 279n1

McCain, John, 38

McCarthy, James, 102

McCarthy, Tom, 152–53

McClanahan, Annie, 279n30

McDonald’s, 77–78

McGurl, Mark, 24, 82, 258n51, 267n29

McHale, Brian, 9, 39, 170, 260n12, 282n35

McInerney, Jay, 190

McLaughlin, Robert L., 4

McTeague (Norris), 60, 263n36

Melville, Herman, 215

Mirowski, Philip, 167, 188, 278n18

Mishra, Pankaj, 3

Moby-Dick (Melville), 215, 226

money, 19–21, 68, 102, 109–10, 112, 229–30, 234, 236–37; coins and coinage, 72–73, 77–78, 81, 84, 90, 104, 108–11, 113, 145–47, 154–56, 170, 175–78, 201, 228–33, 236–37, 270n36; wallets and purses, 107–8, 111–12; and waste, 112, 227–34. See also economic history and concepts

Nabokov, Vladimir, 5, 57, 162, 282n35

Names, The (DeLillo), 261n22, 265n19

Negri, Antonio, 24–25, 99

neoliberalism, 6, 23–24, 28, 64–65, 90, 93, 99, 101–3, 137–38, 144, 154, 167, 182, 201, 212, 254n15, 278n18

New Deal, 24, 63, 65, 71, 74–76, 78, 181

nihilism, 14, 70, 73, 96, 176, 206, 210–13, 234

9/11, 12, 126, 162, 169, 178–79, 251, 279n30

Nixon, Richard, 41, 67, 80, 266n26, 284n49

Nørretranders, Tor, 193, 242

Norris, Frank, 60, 263n36

North, Michael, 118

Oblivion (story collection), 28, 167–70, 174–97; “Another Pioneer,” 174–75; celebrity, 168; forgottenness, 168; coins, 170, 175–78; “Good Old Neon,” 169, 174, 177; and grounding, 170; insurance, 180–87; “Mister Squishy,” 168–69, 175–76, 178, 230, 276n2, 279n30; “Oblivion” (story), 168, 182–87; “Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature,” 168, 175, 219; snoring, 187; socioeconomic context of (as Wallace was writing), 169; “The Soul Is Not a Smithy,” 169, 176–77, 180–82; Style/stilus, 188, 190–91, 202; “The Suffering Channel,” 169–70, 187–97, 279n30; and value, 168–69, 174–75, 192; and work, 169–70, 188–89, 194

“Octet” (short story), 133–34, 140, 143–45, 150–52, 159

O’Donnell, Patrick, 38, 138, 261n23

oikos, 21, 43–44, 56, 81, 123–24, 211, 232

Olsen, Lance, 49

“Order and Flux in Northhampton” (short story), 158, 178

“Other Math” (short story), 135–36

“Ozymandias” (Shelley), 49

Pale Fire (Nabokov), 282n35

Pale King, The, 1, 3, 28, 91, 181, 185–86, 208; and “Adult World,” 150; “Author’s Foreword,” 211, 218–22; and balancing books, 1, 223; Bellerophon, 226; blood imagery, 197, 232; Bondurant, 234; Buddha image, 223; Christianity, 208–9, 214–15, 230–31; circles and circling, 206, 229; “code,” 220–21; coins, 228–33, 236–37; as “communist novel” (Shapiro), 6; and contracts, 218–23; David Cusk, 238; Lane Dean, 202, 204–5, 208, 230–33; Shane Drinion, 100, 234–37; Mr. Ingle, 232; “E Pluribus Unum,” 223–25, 227, 231; Chris Fogle, 9, 78, 181, 209–12, 214–15, 239, 240, 284n52; Garrity, 236; DeWitt Glendenning, 201, 214, 223, 284n51; and ground, 206–7, 210, 213–14; Immersives, 207; Minos, 207; and myth, 206–7; and neoliberalism, 24, 201; Stu Nichols, 200–201, 213; Peoria, 181, 202; priest figures, 207–8; ritual, 205–6, 210, 215; “rotate,” 205–6, 212; Self-Storage Parkway, 202; socioeconomic context of (as Wallace was writing), 211–12; Spackman Initiative, 201, 212; Leonard Stecyk, 121, 232–33; “Subdividable!” slogan, 14, 213; Claude Sylvanshine, 3, 171, 229; tax day (April 15th), 207; time, 204–5; title, meanings of, 202, 282n35; and value, 198–99, 201, 203, 207, 210, 223, 229–30, 232, 234, 239–40; David Wallace (character), 202, 204, 207, 218–23, 239–41; Toni Ware, 207, 281n19; and waste, 227–35; and work, 199–200, 203, 215, 238. See also tax and taxation

Pietsch, Michael, 150, 181, 209, 218–19, 225, 243

Plath, Sylvia, 270n33

Plato, 66, 138, 151–54

Poe, Edgar Allan, 175

pragmatism, 118, 271n45

price, 2, 12, 19, 78, 85, 143, 145, 156, 199, 241–42, 244–45, 251. See also value

Program Era, The (McGurl), 82, 267n30

Protestant work ethic, 22, 39, 53, 56, 91–92, 98–99, 115–16, 119, 169

Public Burning, The (Coover), 79–80

Puritans, 41–42, 57

Puskar, Jason, 64

Pynchon, Thomas, 22, 39, 57, 65, 76, 91, 100, 117, 119, 150, 157, 161, 225, 260n12

quantum phenomena, 274n11

Quinn, Paul, 101

Rand, Ayn, 235, 284n50

Rando, David P., 254n9

rational-choice theory, 108

readers and reading, 35, 172, 203, 205, 209–10, 222, 235, 241, 243

Reagan, Ronald, 37–38, 41, 67, 103, 200–201, 264n12

Remainder (McCarthy), 152

risk, 119, 156, 178–80, 184, 278n18. See also insurance

ritual, 205–6, 209–10, 215

Roiland, Josh, 29

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 24, 67, 71, 76, 181. See also the New Deal

Rorschach, Hermann, 68

Rowe, Katherine, 20

Sartre, Jean-Paul, 119, 244, 272n48

Saunders, George, 30, 205

Sayers, Sean, 54

Scott, A.O., 5

self, 31, 61, 85–86, 92–93, 95, 97, 99, 108, 110, 146, 150, 154, 170, 201–2, 212, 238–39, 268n16

Serpent on the Rock (Eichenwald), 184

Severs, Jeffrey, 261n21, 271n46, 277n9, 284n52

Shapiro, Stephen, 6, 25, 201

Shonkwiler, Alison, 26, 259–60n5

Signifying Rappers (Wallace and Costello), 63, 263n4

sincerity, 4–5, 27, 69, 84, 88, 111, 120, 124, 150, 239, 251

Smith, Adam, 20

Smith, Zadie, 29, 139, 143, 164–66, 276n38

solipsism, 13, 81, 128, 141, 207, 209–10, 239

sports. See games and sports.

Stevens, Wallace, 130

stochastic methods, 140–41, 155–60, 178, 275n26

Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, A, 9, 11–12, 21, 45, 69, 80, 84, 91, 99, 160, 205, 224; “Greatly Exaggerated,” 120–21, 256n33

Szalay, Michael, 6, 25, 64, 201, 219, 227, 229–30, 237, 281n26, 284n49

Taussig, Michael, 145

tax and taxation, 144, 185, 198–200, 213, 241, 246; tax collectors, 208–9; Internal Revenue Service (IRS), 1, 23, 199, 201, 213, 225–28, 230, 237–38, 283n43; Tax Reform Act of 1986, 185

tennis, 98–100, 116. See also games and sports

This Is Water, 7, 9–10, 29, 231

Thompson, Lucas, 5

time, 4, 16, 19, 103–4, 151, 157, 181, 204–5, 212, 261n23

Tolstoy, Leo, 173

Tosi, Justine, 11

“Total Noise,” 171, 242, 249

Tracey, Thomas, 258n45, 259n4

Tristan and Iseult, 255n22

utilitarianism, 14, 70, 92, 101, 103–4, 247

value, 2, 4–7, 10–16, 22, 161, 172–73, 178, 244; aesthetic value, 34, 77, 168–69, 172–73, 241; athletic valuation, 174; in Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, 137, 139–41, 145–46, 151, 154–56, 160; in The Broom of the System, 47–53; in “Crash of ’69,” 66, 68–70; and energy transfer, 21–22, 123; common values, 47; and dissonance, 95; financial value as irrational, 66; financial value linked to dementia, 156; in Girl with Curious Hair (collection), 71–72, 80–81, 83; honored value, 90; human sense and perception as true means of valuation, 21; in Infinite Jest, 89–91, 93–95, 97–98, 108–11, 128–29, 131; and language, 129; “norm” as “value,” 47; in Oblivion, 168–69, 174–75, 192; in The Pale King, 198–99, 201, 203, 207, 210, 223, 229–30, 232, 234, 239–40; and price, 2, 12, 19, 78, 85, 143, 145, 156, 199, 241–42, 244–45, 251; quantitative or mathematical values contrasted with moral values, 18–26, 94; and “radiance,” 80–81; truth value, 68; valere, 144; worth and worthlessness, 148, 174, 192; of writing and art, 61. See also money, work

Wallace, David Foster, biography/personal history: AA meetings, 133; addiction, 142; Amherst years, 53, 63, 108, 128, 204, 263n36, 275n28, 280n10; back problems, 279n1; Big Craig, 88, 133; Bloomington-Normal, 178–79; Braveheart, 262–63n34; Buddhism, 271n39; Catholicism, 282n31; celebrity, 168; childhood, 263n3; Costello, Mark, 63, 138, 263–64n4; creative struggles, 170; grandfather as dentist, 269n22; and Infinite Jest, 88; insurance, personal connection to, 178–79, 186–87; job history, 34, 259n1; MacArthur award, 121, 141; mental health issues, 186–87; suicide, 1, 29–30, 249–50, 285n7; voting record, 38; writing and time, 204; writing contracts, 219

Wallace, David Foster, literary work: accountants and accounting, 141–43, 199–200, 209, 238; addiction and addicts, 97–98, 105–8, 116, 119, 189, 205, 211, 238; the American idea, 11–12; attention (“pay attention”), 237–39, 245; biblical allusions, 43, 55, 70, 134, 209, 214, 230; body imagery, 9, 21–22, 54, 57, 60, 69, 94–97, 100, 105, 108, 123, 131, 142–43, 187–88, 197, 202, 206, 210, 212–14, 229, 268n15, 279n29; checkout lines and cash registers, 244–46; coins and coinage, 72–73, 77–78, 81, 84, 90, 104, 108–11, 113, 145–47, 154–56, 170, 175–78, 201, 228–33, 236–37, 270n36; commonwealth, 19, 24, 59–60, 70–71, 93, 127–34, 211–13, 223, 234, 238, 246; and conservative traditions, 38; contracts, 24, 44–46, 106–7, 148–49, 218–23; “default settings,” 9–10; depression, subject in writing, 67, 94, 151, 272n49; energy, 21–22, 35–36, 40, 47, 80, 123, 144, 192, 211, 229, 232, 246; errors, characters as propagators of, 54, 68, 128, 227; fascism, 8, 78, 82, 104, 107, 221, 234, 270n34; food, 123, 189, 230; freedom, 103, 107, 115, 218; games and sports, 8, 65–66, 80, 89. 94, 96, 98–100, 104, 106, 116, 119, 149, 162, 174; gender, 266n25; gifts and giving, 83–84, 102, 109, 111–12, 120–26, 165–66, 193; grace, 90, 113–19, 210; immanence, 9–10, 45, 208, 221, 226, 261n21; insurance, 74, 169, 178–87, 180–87, 278n16; irony, 4–5, 69, 111, 181, 254n9; Latin, 224–25, 227; legs and feet, 9, 96–97, 105, 131, 142, 210, 212–14, 229; the lottery, 40, 58–60, 112, 119, 165; luck, 72, 118–19; mathematical organizational methods, 138; meaning as power, 61; as modernist, 64; as moral fiction writer, 3, 4, 12, 139, 160–61, 247; myth, 89, 192–92, 206, 212, 226, 228; nihilism, 14, 70, 73, 96, 176, 206, 210–13, 234; numbers and numbering, 140; post-humanism, 183–84; as postindustrial writer, 141; and postmodernism, 2, 9, 12, 38, 64–65, 76, 88–89, 139, 141, 161, 172–73, 179; postpostmodern readings of, 5; and poststructuralism, 8, 120, 178; race, 146, 266n25, 274n14; readers and reading, 35, 172, 203, 205, 209–10, 222, 235, 241, 243; ritual, 205–6, 209–10, 215; sadism, 59, 94, 104, 109, 149–50, 268n15; sincerity, 4–5, 27, 69, 84, 88, 111, 120, 124, 150, 239, 251; slavery, 105–7, 146, 188; solipsism, 13, 81, 128, 141, 207, 209–10, 239; spine imagery, 9, 96, 110, 199, 279n1; stochastic methods, 140–41, 155–60, 275n26; suicide, subject in writings, 67, 106, 174, 270n33; synthesizing spirit of, 6; as systems writer, 21, 257n44; “thinking your existence,” 7; time, 4, 16, 19, 103–4, 151, 157, 181, 204–5, 212, 261n23; TV, 18, 34, 46, 57, 77, 79–80, 102, 108, 159–60, 193, 224, 250; verbal exchanges as true economy, 25; waste, 146, 167, 169, 188, 192, 227–35; “winners” as losers, 65; yin-yang symbolism, 8, 40, 50, 205, 255n19. See also balance; ground; language; value; work

wallets and purses, 107–8, 111–12

Walpurgisnacht, 117

Warren, Andrew, 283n41

waste, 146, 167, 169, 188, 192, 227–35

Watergate, 41

Wayne, Teddy, 161–64, 276nn34–35

Weber, Max, 22, 39, 116

weight, 97, 100, 142, 190, 200

welfare state, 23–24, 63–64, 74, 80, 182

“Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way” (short story), 13, 15–16, 61, 73–78, 80–87, 95, 102, 122, 137, 157, 224; “honor,” 84–85; and MFA writing programs, 82

White Noise (DeLillo), 41, 245

Winthrop, John, 41

Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 2, 9, 13, 35–36, 41, 45, 48–49, 51, 94, 132, 215, 221

work, 22–23, 33, 44, 141, 167–69, 238, 258n45; in The Broom of the System, 35–36, 38–40, 42–43, 48–49, 53–57; “I EXIST…BECAUSE I WORK,” 36; and despair, 167, 170; in Infinite Jest, 89, 91–93, 98–99, 116–18, 122; in Oblivion, 169–70, 188–89, 194; in The Pale King, 199–200, 203, 215, 238; pleasure as by-product of, 34; pound as measure of work, 47; reading as work, 34–35; as verb, 117–18; Wallace’s personal job history, 34, 259n1; work ethic, 22, 39, 53, 56, 91–92, 98–99, 115–16, 200; as “working out,” 99. See also value

Wouters, Conley, 11, 228, 268n16

yin-yang symbolism, 8, 40, 50, 205, 255n19