The Pale King

By Wallace, David Foster

Publishers Summary:
The agents at the IRS Regional Examination Center in Peoria, IL, 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 intriguing 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 ultimate value of work and family--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 a writer who dared to take on the most daunting subjects the human spirit can imagine.

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ISBN
978-0-31607-423-0
Publisher
Little, Brown and Company


REVIEWS

Library Journal

Reviewed on November 15, 2010  |  Prepub Alert

When a character named David Foster Wallace arrives at the IRS Regional Examination Center in Peoria, IL, he takes on a job so joyless and machinelike that (along with other ne...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

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