“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..”
