# The Pale King: An Unfinished Novel - Hardcover

by **David Foster Wallace** (Author)

**The "breathtakingly brilliant" novel by the author of _Infinite Jest_ (_New York Times_) is a deeply compelling and satisfying story, as hilarious and fearless and original as anything Wallace ever wrote.**

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.

**"_The Pale King_ is by turns funny, shrewd, suspenseful, piercing, smart, terrifying, and rousing." --Laura Miller, _Salon_**

### Author Biography

**David Foster Wallace** was born in Ithaca, New York, in 1962 and raised in Illinois, where he was a regionally ranked junior tennis player. He received bachelor of arts degrees in philosophy and English from Amherst College and wrote what would become his first novel, _The Broom of the System_, as his senior English thesis. He received a masters of fine arts from University of Arizona in 1987 and briefly pursued graduate work in philosophy at Harvard University. His second novel, _Infinite Jest_, was published in 1996.

Wallace taught creative writing at Emerson College, Illinois State University, and Pomona College, and published the story collections _Girl with Curious Hair_, _Brief Interviews with Hideous Men_, _Oblivion_, the essay collections _A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again_, and _Consider the Lobster_. He was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship, a Lannan Literary Award, and a Whiting Writers' Award, and was appointed to the Usage Panel for The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. He died in 2008. His last novel, _The Pale King_, was published in 2011.

**Number of Pages:** 560

**Dimensions:** 1.68 x 9.45 x 6.4 IN

**Publication Date:** April 15, 2011

**Award:** Pulitzer Prize (2012)

## Details

- **Price:** 47.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 47.00 USD | In stock |

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- The Pale King: An Unfinished Novel - Hardcover

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