Chapter 10 of 17 · 3'16"
What starts as a joke about whose writing Sarah prefers turns into a phone call: "Let's get her on the phone." Wallace introduces himself with "Nice to meet you telephonically" and stays on for twenty-five minutes, while Lipsky stews. The punchline is his complaint: "You were only supposed to say hello."
❝ Monologue · 5 lines Lipsky's Girlfriend Loves Wallace
After a reading, Lipsky tells Wallace that his girlfriend Sarah likes Wallace's writing more than his own. Joking, they call her, and Wallace ends up talking to Sarah for twenty-five minutes about Infinite Jest, not Lipsky. When the call ends, Lipsky complains that she was only supposed to say hello.
The call is a contest disguised as generosity. Lipsky has just admitted that his girlfriend prefers Wallace's writing, and rather than let the wound close, they dial her number. Wallace takes the phone and is instantly charming — "Nice to meet you telephonically" — then talks to Sarah about Infinite Jest for twenty-five minutes. Lipsky, the journalist who is supposed to be running the interview, is reduced to asking Wallace, "Are you behaving yourself?" and relaying it back. Afterwards he cannot hide the sting: "What the fuck was that about?" he says, and "You were on the phone with him for half an hour." Even the correction — "It was 25 minutes. Okay? I timed it." — shows how closely he was counting. The friendliness of the evening has a competitive edge neither of them names.
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
“No, sorry, I cannot. This is our hypothermia smoking tour of the Midwest.”
It rebrands a miserable cold trip as a tour package, which is why the joke lands.
Informal
“I think pretty girls are what we most dream and despair of ever having, like, pay attention to us.”
It names both the longing and the self-doubt behind wanting attention, without flattering anyone.
Informal
“You were only supposed to say hello.”
The flat reminder makes the jealousy land harder than any shouting would.
Informal
“You were on the phone with him for half an hour.”
The flat arithmetic of the complaint makes the betrayal of the promise funnier.
Informal
I tell you what. I think that having an audience... like, really, really pretty girls... who are all paying attention to you and kind of like what you're saying, that's gratifying on a fairly, I think, just simple mammal level. I know. Why is that? I think pretty girls are what we most dream and despair of ever having, like, pay attention to us.
Up next · 11self-absorbedThe scene: Wallace on Being Shy and EgotisticalHe mentions that she likes Wallace's writing more than his own, and the two of them decide to call her, partly as a joke and partly to prove the point.
Wallace does. After the call connects, he introduces himself as Dave Wallace and spends about twenty-five minutes talking with her about Infinite Jest.
He expected a quick hello, but Wallace and Sarah talked for a long time, and he complains that she was only supposed to say hello.
It is a playful way of saying nice to meet you over the phone. Wallace uses the formal-sounding word telephonically to introduce himself to Sarah in a charming, mock-stiff way.
Yes, she tells Wallace she is up reading it and later says she's on page 369, even that she can't put it down.
