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The Pale King
An Unfinished Novel
Book Summary
The character David Foster Wallace is introduced to the banal world of the IRS Regional Examination Center in Peoria, Illinois, and the host of strange people who work there, in a novel that was unfinished at the time of the author's death. By the author of Infinite Jest. 100,000 first printing.
Genres:
This book is about:
- Autobiographical fiction,
- Office politics,
- Civil service,
- Wallace, David Foster,
- Fiction
NPR stories about The Pale King
Best Books Of 2011
Year-End Fiction Wrap-Up: The 10 Best Novels Of 2011
David Foster Wallace's posthumously published, unfinished novel, The Pale King, clocks in at over 500 densely printed pages. No matter. Every few block paragraphs or so, a sentence will bubble to the surface that's so genuine, it makes you realize how artificial, by comparison, so much other fiction is. The Pale King, which is ostensibly about an IRS agent and his officemates, is an epic about work — its dullness and its demands. This is a singular novel, and the fact that... more
Book Reviews
The Magic Of David Foster Wallace's Unfinished 'King'
April 5, 2011 David Foster Wallace committed suicide in 2008, leaving behind one of the brightest literary legacies of his generation. His triumph, Infinite Jest, remains his best-known work, but now, a new unfinished novel, The Pale King, has emerged from notes and drafts. And it is worth the read.
Books
Author's Final Book An Unfinished Tale Of Boredom
April 2, 2011 Writer David Foster Wallace's last and most ambitious work, The Pale King, will be published this month by Little, Brown. The book, his editor says, attempts a challenge no novelist has ever taken on: to write about the boring parts of life. But would the author want us to read it?
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