The Pale King is a novel written by David Foster Wallace. Released posthumously in a somewhat incomplete state in 2011, it is Wallace's final novel and tells of its own author working at the IRS.
Characters[]
- David Foster Wallace
rest to be added
Publisher's summary[]
The agents at the IRS Regional Examination Center in Peoria, Illinois, appear ordinary enough to newly arrived trainee David Foster Wallace. But as he immerses himself in a routine so tedious and repetitive that new employees receive boredom-survival training, he learns of the extraordinary variety of personalities drawn to this strange calling. And he has arrived at a moment when forces within the IRS are plotting to eliminate even what little humanity and dignity the work still has.
The Pale King remained unfinished at the time of David Foster Wallace's death, but it is a deeply compelling and satisfying novel, hilarious and fearless and as original as anything Wallace ever undertook. It grapples directly with ultimate questions--questions of life's meaning and of the value of work and society--through characters imagined with the interior force and generosity that were Wallace's unique gifts. Along the way it suggests a new idea of heroism and commands infinite respect for one of the most daring writers of our time.
See also[]
| Title | Author | Release dates | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stephen Hero | James Joyce | 1944 | An unfinished posthumous novel |
| 2666 | Roberto Bolaño | 2004 | A posthumous postmodernist novel |
| The Last Tycoon | F. Scott Fitzgerald | 1941 | An unfinished posthumous novel |
| A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | James Joyce | 1916 | An experimental novel whose main character is a self-insert |
| Fieldwork | Mischa Berlinski | 2007 | An experimental novel whose main character is a self-insert |
Sources[]
- Goodreads
| Works of David Foster Wallace | ||
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Novels | ||