David Foster Wallace was loved

Although I had read mostly his Harper’s Magazine work and none of his novels, I was still saddened when I heard of David Foster Wallace‘s death. I’m reminded of it because Steve Juras’ Twitter feed pointed me to a touching, poignant article written by the person who designed his books (the insides, not the cover):

Had I realized at the time that this job would entail my spending close to an hour every few weeks talking to my favorite author ever on the phone, I would have never considered giving it to anyone else. Mostly we just went over changes that needed to be made, but initially we had some very intense discussions regarding the semiotics of the leaders (the lines going from the text to the boxes) and the tics and the line width of the boxes and the ampersands. He’d leave me voice mail messages at work in the middle of the night, telling me what time I should call him the next day. One time when I called, I got his answering machine, but when I began to leave a message, he picked up. “I heard your mellifluous voice,” he said.

It is simultaneously a glimpse inside how an author’s manuscript goes from typewritten pages and ideas to a final finished book as well as a glimpse inside David Foster Wallace as well.

(photo by Steve Rhodes)