The Pale King, an unfinished novel by the late, laureled American author David Foster Wallace, will be released in bookstores next week. Because the premise of the story deals with the routine (or not) of work in an IRS center, the publisher set the release date to coincide with the normal deadline for tax filing, April 15th. Well, there are always those creative types who know their way around deadlines, and in this case, both Amazon and Barnes & Noble are selling the book online at this very moment. Bernardsville Public Library will have a copy of the book available after the release date.
Book News and More posted a piece about David Foster Wallace at the time of his suicide in 2008. As is often the case, interest in this talented, but tormented writer increased posthumously. Just today a very extensive and unusual article was posted online at The Awl entitled, "Inside David Foster Wallace's Self-Help Library." Some of the self-help books Wallace heavily read and reread were highlighted here and interesting references were made to his mother, grammarian Sally Foster Wallace, as well. These books are among the collection of the author's papers at the University of Texas at Austin.
As this article states, "David Wallace was a person who dwelt in darkness either by nature or compulsion, or maybe even by mere habit, or maybe just because he'd been given the wrong medication. Depression is a very inward-turned and self-loathing thing: he trapped himself in this sort of interior abattoir. But like all depressed persons, Wallace loathed himself in error. He had a real value that others could see, but he could not."
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