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But maybe I wasn’t exactly the ideal reader for Infinite Jest then. Maybe I never was. I became peculiarly fixated on my loathing for the loathsome character Orin Incandenza, the anti–Sydney Carton and a serial seducer of young mothers whom I wanted to drag out onto the balustrade and slap across t…

“Look at me,” the ghastly maître d’, who was not a native English speaker, said, sitting back again. He made a sweeping gesture there in the back seat of the taxi, taking in his kingdom whole. “I have a nice lunch, and I kiss two very pretty girls.”

Whitney and I hadn’t perceived an id so unchec…

Being a reviewer (Gore Vidal enjoyed reminding everyone of the distinction between a reviewer and a critic) is easy work, especially for a young person—you are always standing safely at a remove; nothing is risked, nothing is bloodied. Writing reviews can become your first little frisson of power, …

My only important relationship in those years was with a much older married man. As a result of this situation, I learned that each unreal relationship is its own Prospero’s island and that dreaming and unreality keep you on your island. I learned, too, that the false dream is better enacted than a…

“Remind me never to be pregnant in the summer,” said the first assistant. The pregnant woman did look quite uncomfortable. She was wearing a black dress.

“You have to make sure you plan it right,” said the second assistant. “The best time to have a baby is in the late fall.”

I was interested …