Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com DAV I FO S T E WA L L AC E’ B A L A N C I N B O O K D R S G S F I CT I O N S OF VA LUE J E F F R E Y S E V E R S www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com D AV I FO S T E WA L L A C E ’ B A L A N C I N B O O K www.Ebook777.com D R S G S D AV I FO S T E WA L L A C E ’ B A L A N C I N B O O K D R S G S F I CT I O N S O F VA LU E JEFFREY SEVERS CO LU M B I A U NI V E R S I T Y PR E S S NEW YORK Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893 New York Chichester, West Sussex cup.columbia.edu Copyright © 2017 Columbia University Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Severs, Jeffrey, 1974– author Title: David Foster Wallace’s balancing books : fictions of value / Jeffrey Severs Description: New York : Columbia University Press, 2017 | Includes bibliographical references and index Identifiers: lccn 2016019208 (print) | lccn 2016030061 (ebook) | isbn 9780231179447 (cloth : alk paper) | isbn 9780231543118 (e-book) Subjects: lcsh: Wallace, David Foster—Criticism and interpretation Classification: lcc ps3573.a425635 z864 2017 (print) | lcc ps3573.a425635 (ebook) | ddc 813/.54—dc23 lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016019208 Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper Printed in the United States of America Cover design: Archie Ferguson Cover image: © Gary Hannabarger www.Ebook777.com CONTENTS Note on the Texts vii Acknowledgments ix INTRODUCTION: A LIVING TRANSACTION: VALUE, GROUND, AND BALANCING BOOKS 1 COME TO WORK: CAPITALIST FANTASIES AND THE QUEST FOR BALANCE IN THE BROOM OF THE SYSTEM 33 NEW DEALS: (THE) DEPRESSION AND DEVALUATION IN THE EARLY STORIES 62 DEI GRATIA : WORK ETHIC, GRACE, AND GIVING IN INFINITE JEST 88 OTHER MATH: HUMAN COSTS, FRACTIONAL SELVES, AND NEOLIBERAL CRISIS IN BRIEF INTERVIEWS WITH HIDEOUS MEN 135 HIS CAPITAL FLUSH: DESPAIRING OVER WORK AND VALUE IN OBLIVION 167 E PLURIBUS UNUM : RITUAL, CURRENCY, AND THE EMBODIED VALUES OF THE PALE KING 198 VI CONTENTS CONCLUSION: IN LINE FOR THE CASH REGISTER WITH WALLACE 244 Notes 253 Bibliography 287 Index 301 NOTE ON THE TEXTS T HE FOLLOWING texts by David Foster Wallace are cited parenthetically with abbreviations Full bibliographic information is in the bibliography NOVELS AND SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS The Broom of the System Girl with Curious Hair Infinite Jest Brief Interviews with Hideous Men Oblivion The Pale King B GCH IJ BI O PK E S S AY C O L L E C T I O N S , N O N F I C T I O N , A N D I N T E R V I E W S A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again Both Flesh and Not Conversations with David Foster Wallace, ed Stephen J Burn Consider the Lobster SFT BF CW CL VIII NOTE ON THE TEXTS David Foster Wallace: The Last Interview Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, About Living a Compassionate Life LI EM TW Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com ACKNOWLEDGMENTS T H A N K Y O U to the University of British Columbia for grant and leave support and to my colleagues in the English Department, especially Ira Nadel Thanks to the library staff at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas–Austin; to the editorial staff at Columbia University Press, especially Philip Leventhal, and the anonymous reviewers of my manuscript; to my research assistants, Angus Reid, Madeline Gorman, and especially Jeff Noh and Jae Sharpe, who were both indispensable to the book’s completion; to the students in my seminars, who spurred many insights herein; to Eric Bennett, Brian Bremen, Ralph Clare, Siân Echard, Matt Gartner, Jeff Hoffman, Chris Leise, Linda Meng, Geordie Miller, Travis Miles, Jason Puskar, Matt Rubery, Adam Seluzicki, Charles Seluzicki, and Jeff Waite, who each helped with conversation and support at crucial moments; to Steve Moore, who gave me and my archival research a Texas home; and to the staff and management of Vancouver’s City Square Shopping Centre Food Court, where many of these pages were written Above all, I thank my mom and dad, my sisters, and my entire family for loving me and educating me And thanks beyond thanks to Christina Seluzicki, for showing me what value and gifts can be www.Ebook777.com BIBLIOGRAPHY 297 Rando, David P “David Foster Wallace and Lovelessness.” Twentieth Century Literature 59, no (2013): 575–595 Reagan, Ronald “Inaugural Address: January 20, 1981.” In Actor, Ideologue, Politician: The Public Speeches of Ronald Reagan, ed Davis W Houck and Amos Kiewe, 176– 180 Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1993 —— “Farewell Address to the Nation: January 11, 1989.” In Actor, Ideologue, Politician, ed Houck and Kiewe, 322–327 Roiland, Josh “Getting Away from It All: The Literary Journalism of David Foster Wallace and Nietzsche’s Concept of Oblivion.” In The Legacy of David Foster Wallace, ed Cohen and Konstantinou, 25–52 Rowe, Katherine Dead Hands: Fictions of Agency, Renaissance to Modern Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1999 Russell, Emily Reading Embodied Citizenship: Disability, Narrative, and the Body Politic New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2011 Saunders, George “Informal Remarks from the David Foster Wallace Memorial Service in New York on October 23, 2008.” In The Legacy of David Foster Wallace, ed Cohen and Konstantinou, 53–58 Sayers, Sean “Creative Activity and Alienation in Hegel and Marx.” Historical Materialism 11, no (2003): 107–128 Scott, A. O “The Panic of Influence.” New York Review of Books, February 10, 2010 Severs, Jeffrey “Cutting Consciousness Down to Size: David Foster Wallace, Exformation, and the Scale of Encyclopedic Fiction.” Forthcoming in Size and Scale in Literature and Culture, ed David Wittenberg and Michael Tavel Clarke —— “David Foster Wallace, James Wood, and a Source for ‘Irrelevant’ Chris Fogle.” The Explicator 73, no (2015): 129–132 —— “‘We’ve Been Inside What We Wanted All Along’: David Foster Wallace’s Immanent Structures.” Forthcoming in Literature and the Encounter with Immanence, ed Brynnar Swenson Amsterdam: Brill, 2016 Shapiro, Stephen “From Capitalist to Communist Abstraction: The Pale King’s Cultural Fix.” Textual Practice 28, no (2014): 1249–1271 Shell, Marc Art and Money Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995 —— Money, Language, and Thought: Literary and Philosophical Economies from the Medieval to the Modern Era Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982 Shelp, Ronald K “Business Forum: Can Services Survive Without Manufacturing? Giving the Service Economy a Bum Rap.” New York Times, May 17, 1987 Shonkwiler, Alison, and Leigh Claire La Berge “Introduction: A Theory of Capitalist Realism.” In Reading Capitalist Realism, ed Shonkwiler and La Berge, 1–25 ——, eds Reading Capitalist Realism Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2014 Small, Helen “Fully Accountable.” New Literary History 44, no (2013): 539–560 298 BIBLIOGRAPHY Smith, Zadie Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays New York: Penguin, 2009 —— NW 2012 Reprint, New York: Penguin, 2013 Staes, Toon “‘Only Artists Can Transfigure’: Kafka’s Artists and the Possibility of Redemption in the Novellas of David Foster Wallace.” Orbis Litterarum: International Review of Literary Studies 65, no (2010): 459–480 —— “Rewriting the Author: A Narrative Approach to Empathy in Infinite Jest and The Pale King.” Studies in the Novel 44, no (2012): 409–427 Stevens, Wallace The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens New York: Vintage, 1990 Stolberg, Sheryl Gay “The Decider.” New York Times, December 24, 2006 Szalay, Michael New Deal Modernism: American Literature and the Invention of the Welfare State Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2000 Taussig, Michael The Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America 1980 Reprint, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010 Taylor, Mark C Confidence Games: Money and Markets in a World Without Redemption Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004 Thompson, Lucas “Programming Literary Influence: David Foster Wallace’s ‘B.I #59.’” Texas Studies in Literature and Language 56, no (2014): 113–134 Troeltsch, Ernst The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches Translated by Olive Wyon Vol Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox, 1992 Tracey, Thomas “The Formative Years: David Foster Wallace’s Philosophical Influences and The Broom of the System.” In Gesturing Toward Reality, ed Bolger and Korb, 157–176 Wallace Havens, Amy “Amy Wallace Havens on Her Brother.” Interview by Anne Strainchamps To The Best of Our Knowledge PRI radio broadcast, August 23, 2009 http://www.ttbook.org/book/amy-wallace-havens-her-brother Wallace, David Foster “All That.” New Yorker, December 14, 2009 http://www.new yorker.com/magazine/2009/12/14/all-that-2 —— The Awakening of My Interest in Advanced Tax Westborough, Mass.: Madras, 2013 —— Both Flesh and Not: Essays New York: Little, Brown, 2012 —— “Brief Interviews with Hideous Men.” Harper’s (October 1998): 41–56 —— Brief Interviews with Hideous Men 1999 Reprint, New York: Little, Brown, 2007 —— The Broom of the System 1987 Reprint, New York: Avon, 1993 —— Consider the Lobster and Other Essays New York: Little, Brown, 2005 —— “Le Conversazioni 2006.” YouTube video Posted by “Dazzle Communication,” May 26, 2007 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsziSppMUS4 —— “Crash of ’69.” Between C & D (Winter 1989): 3–12 BIBLIOGRAPHY 299 —— “David Foster Wallace.” Interview by Charlie Rose Charlie Rose PBS March 27, 1997 —— “David Foster Wallace: In Conversation with David Kipen.” Interview City Arts & Lectures 2004 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfjjSj9coA0 —— “David Foster Wallace (Brief Interviews With Hideous Men).” Interview by Michael Silverblatt Bookworm KCRW radio broadcast August 3, 2000 —— “David Foster Wallace (Consider the Lobster).” Interview by Michael Silverblatt Bookworm KCRW radio broadcast March 2, 2006 —— “David Foster Wallace (Infinite Jest).” Interview by Michael Silverblatt Bookworm KCRW radio broadcast April 11, 1996 —— David Foster Wallace: The Last Interview and Other Conversations Brooklyn, N.Y.: Melville House, 2012 —— David Foster Wallace Papers Harry Ransom Center, Austin —— Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity 2003 Reprint, New York: Norton, 2010 —— Fate, Time, and Language: An Essay on Free Will Edited by Steven M Cahn and Maureen Eckert New York: Columbia University Press, 2011 —— “The Gift: Comments and Reviews.” Blurb Lewishyde.com http://www.lewishyde com/publications/the-gift/comments-reviews/ —— Girl with Curious Hair New York: Norton, 1989 —— Infinite Jest 10th Anniversary ed New York: Back Bay, 2006 —— Interview by Das ZDF-Interview Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen http://www.you tube.com/watch?v=FkxUY0kxH80 —— “The Jester Holds Court: An Interview with David Foster Wallace.” By Valerie Stivers stim.com 1, no (May 15, 1996) http://www.stim.com/Stim-x/0596May /Verbal/dfwmain.html —— “Laughing with Kafka.” Harper’s (July 1998): 23, 26–27 —— Oblivion New York: Little, Brown, 2004 —— “Order and Flux in Northampton.” Conjunctions 17 (Fall 1991): 91–118 —— “Other Math.” Western Humanities Review (Summer 1987): 287–289 —— The Pale King: An Unfinished Novel 2011 Reprint, New York: Back Bay, 2012 —— “Peoria (4).” TriQuarterly 112 (2002): 131 —— “The Planet Trillaphon as It Stands in Relation to the Bad Thing.” The Amherst Review (1984): 26–33 https://quomodocumque.files.wordpress.com/2008/09 /wallace-amherst_review-the_planet.pdf —— “Quo Vadis – Introduction.” Review of Contemporary Fiction 16, no (1996): 7–8 —— A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments New York: Little, Brown, 1997 300 BIBLIOGRAPHY —— This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, About Living a Compassionate Life New York: Little, Brown, 2009 —— “Transcript of the David Foster Wallace Interview.” By David Wiley Minnesota Daily, February 27, 1997 http://www.badgerinternet.com/~bobkat/jestwiley2 html Wallace, David Foster, and Mark Costello Signifying Rappers 1990 Reprint, New York: Back Bay, 2013 Warren, Andrew “Modeling Community and Narrative in Infinite Jest and The Pale King.” In David Foster Wallace and “The Long Thing”: New Essays on the Novels, ed Boswell, 61–82 Wayne, Teddy “Addiction to Itself: Self-Consciousness in David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest.” AB Thesis, Harvard, 2001 —— Kapitoil: A Novel New York: Harper Perennial, 2010 —— “On Internet Slang, IMHO.” New York Times, March 28, 2014 Weatherall, James Owen The Physics of Wall Street: A Brief History of Predicting the Unpredictable New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2013 Weber, Bruce “David Foster Wallace, Influential Writer, Dies at 46.” New York Times, September 14, 2008 Weber, Max The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism and Other Writings New York: Penguin, 2002 Winthrop, John “A Model of Christian Charity.” In The Journal of John Winthrop, 1630– 1649, ed James Savage, Richard S Dunn, and Laetitia Yaendle, 1–11 Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1996 Wittgenstein, Ludwig Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Trans D F Pears and B F McGuinness Rev ed New York: Routledge, 1974 —— Philosophical Investigations: The English Text of the Third Edition Translated by G. E. M Anscombe Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1958 Wood, James The Irresponsible Self: On Laughter and the Novel New York: Picador, 2005 Wouters, Conley “‘What Am I, a Machine?’: Humans and Information in The Pale King.” In David Foster Wallace and “The Long Thing”: New Essays on the Novels, ed Boswell, 169–186 Zane, J Peder The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books New York: Norton, 2007 INDEX “Adult World” (short story), 138–39, 149–50, 153–59 advertising, 4, 78, 108, 130, 168–69, 181, 224, 245, 266n24 “All That” (short story), 17–18, 257n34 analytical philosophy, 50, 157 Anderson, Tore Rye, Anker, Elizabeth, 279n30 Arrighi, Giovanni, 137 “Asian Flu,” 139, 155–56 Aubry, Timothy, 98, 275n17 “Authority and American Usage” (essay), 172, 247–48, 273n63 axiology and axiological fiction, 2, 14–17, 21, 28, 43, 59, 80, 86, 98, 109, 124, 174, 230 balance, 1–3, 52, 92, 95–96, 141–43, 199–200, 209, 238, 262n27; balance books, 1, 8, 223, 253n1; balance scale, 3, 4, 47; versus balancing, Ballantyne, Nathan, 11 Barth, John, 13, 226, 276n30 Barthelme, Donald, 41, 78 Beck, Ulrich, 179 Bellow, Saul, 74, 265n22 Bidart, Frank, 240 Black Monday (October 19, 1987), 62 Boddy, Kasia, 64, 267n30 bonds, 55, 156, 235 bookkeeping, double-entry method, 1, 253n1 See also balance Borges, Jorge Luis, 239–40, 284n52 Boswell, Marshall, 64, 172, 183, 201, 220, 243, 254n7, 271n40 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 302 INDEX 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; Stonecipher, 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; INDEX “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, 247 303 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, 304 INDEX economic history and concepts (continued) 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 INDEX 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, 206 305 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, 306 INDEX Infinite Jest (continued) 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 INDEX 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., McTeague (Norris), 60, 263n36 Melville, Herman, 215 Mirowski, Philip, 167, 188, 278n18 Mishra, Pankaj, 307 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; 308 INDEX Oblivion (story collection) (continued) “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; SelfStorage 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 INDEX 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., 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, 130 309 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, 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, 310 INDEX value (continued) 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; Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com INDEX 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; posthumanism, 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 311 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 www.Ebook777.com ... All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Severs, Jeffrey, 1974– author Title: David Foster Wallace s balancing books : fictions of value / Jeffrey Severs Description:... me what value and gifts can be www.Ebook777.com X ACKNOWLEDGMENTS An earlier version of portions of chapters and appeared as “Collision, Illinois: David Foster Wallace and the Value of Insurance,”... Conversations with David Foster Wallace, ed Stephen J Burn Consider the Lobster SFT BF CW CL VIII NOTE ON THE TEXTS David Foster Wallace: The Last Interview Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity