Last month, the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin announced that it had acquired a dictionary owned by David Foster Wallace, as part of its extensive Wallace archive. Wallace's copy of the American Heritage Dictionary was full of words that the late writer had circled. The Ransom Center released a sampling of Wallace's circled words, but now Slate's Browbeat blog has revealed the complete list. It's a fascinating collection.
You can peruse 360 of Wallace's lexical delights in this word list we've compiled. Here's a selection:
- aphagia: loss of the ability to swallow
- bialy: flat crusty-bottomed onion roll
- chthonic: dwelling beneath the surface of the earth
- durbar: the room in the palace of a native prince of India in which audiences and receptions occur
- esurient: extremely hungry; ardently or excessively desirous
- flagitious: extremely wicked, deeply criminal
- gallimaufry: a motley assortment of things
- hypnagogic: sleep inducing
- inanition: weakness characterized by a lack of vitality or energy
- kohl: a cosmetic preparation used by women in Egypt and Arabia to darken the edges of their eyelids
- litotes: understatement for rhetorical effect (especially when expressing an affirmative by negating its contrary)
- mazurka: a Polish national dance in triple time
- nacelle: a streamlined enclosure for an aircraft engine
- omasum: the third compartment of the stomach of a ruminant
- plethoric: excessively abundant
- pons asinorum: a problem that severely tests the ability of an inexperienced person
- quondam: belonging to some prior time
- rogation: a solemn supplication ceremony prescribed by the church
- scholium: a marginal note written by a scholiast (a commentator on ancient or classical literature)
- tercel: male hawk especially male peregrine or gyrfalcon
- uxorious: foolishly fond of or submissive to your wife
- volant: with wings extended in a flying position
On the Browbeat blog, Juliet Lapidos ponders whether it's possible to detect any patterns in this eclectic list:
DFW admirers: Take a look at the list, then let us know if you gain new insight into the late author's work. Do you have a theory as to what led DFW to circle a word? Do you remember seeing any of these words in DFW's essays, journalism, and novels?
If you have any thoughts about Wallace's plethoric gallimaufry, share them in the comments below!
