Reflections on David Foster Wallace’s posthumously published, unfinished novel The Pale King:
1. While the characters are not three dimensional or whole (or female), the work is moving. Now, you say you are brought along by the language and the dexterity of the writing. I'll ask you this, have you ever read a work that is doggedly post-modern, or obsessed with seeming smart, or arty, or high minded, or impressive or exclusive that you have enjoyed reading? I haven't really. I don't think DFW is doing that here. I think there are two main characters in the work, one is David Foster Wallace, and one is the reader. The book shifts between an omniscient third person perspective and the perspectives of the individuals. All throughout the book though, the polyphany of voices belong to DFW. I never lose the sense that it is him speaking. Who else speaks in any of the ways he does? What is so enchanting, I think, is the sense that he can "do everything", because all of the voices really are his. Something that I have gotten from literature specifically, not from any of the other arts including film, are fleeting moments of feeling not alone, when you really feel that an idea is something that you have thought before but never said. I really disagree with you when you say that Wallace doesn't care if you are there. I think he mainly cares that you are there. I think in the moments where the writing seems beautiful and touching about topics that are so banal and alienating, Wallace is showing you that look, you can understand someone else, even in this society of appearances and being seen. The person you are understanding though is the writer. It is a different kind of connection than relating to one of the characters.
2. Why does he pick the IRS? So we say well, the IRS is the model of a boring job. And yet ...Taxes are a philosophical cornerstone of American democracy. The IRS as a mediating function between the free market and liberal democracy becomes especially interesting when (I'm not sure if this is a real event or not) in the novel it is fashioned after a private sector business to increase equity in order to offset tax cuts and military spending. Very pertinent and topical stuff. On another level, the IRS functions as a synecdoche for a general lack of care or interest in the United States. As Wallace says, taxes are integrally tied in with civic duty. The government knows that if it can make taxes seem as boring as possible, it will be given a free hand by the public to manipulate tax law as it sees fit. There is also a discussion in the book about a general decline in people's interest in being a citizen. This may or may not have to do with people finding it trendy to protest the Vietnam war. In other words, the IRS is an institution of great importance, dealing with issues of both economic and philosophical importance and yet it is disdainfully overlooked by the populace, whose economic destinies it plays a part in shaping. This can be easily expanded into a critique of greater scope that includes more general ethics, neighborliness, etc. etc.
3. The bizarre particularity of the characters names mocks destiny.
1. While the characters are not three dimensional or whole (or female), the work is moving. Now, you say you are brought along by the language and the dexterity of the writing. I'll ask you this, have you ever read a work that is doggedly post-modern, or obsessed with seeming smart, or arty, or high minded, or impressive or exclusive that you have enjoyed reading? I haven't really. I don't think DFW is doing that here. I think there are two main characters in the work, one is David Foster Wallace, and one is the reader. The book shifts between an omniscient third person perspective and the perspectives of the individuals. All throughout the book though, the polyphany of voices belong to DFW. I never lose the sense that it is him speaking. Who else speaks in any of the ways he does? What is so enchanting, I think, is the sense that he can "do everything", because all of the voices really are his. Something that I have gotten from literature specifically, not from any of the other arts including film, are fleeting moments of feeling not alone, when you really feel that an idea is something that you have thought before but never said. I really disagree with you when you say that Wallace doesn't care if you are there. I think he mainly cares that you are there. I think in the moments where the writing seems beautiful and touching about topics that are so banal and alienating, Wallace is showing you that look, you can understand someone else, even in this society of appearances and being seen. The person you are understanding though is the writer. It is a different kind of connection than relating to one of the characters.
2. Why does he pick the IRS? So we say well, the IRS is the model of a boring job. And yet ...Taxes are a philosophical cornerstone of American democracy. The IRS as a mediating function between the free market and liberal democracy becomes especially interesting when (I'm not sure if this is a real event or not) in the novel it is fashioned after a private sector business to increase equity in order to offset tax cuts and military spending. Very pertinent and topical stuff. On another level, the IRS functions as a synecdoche for a general lack of care or interest in the United States. As Wallace says, taxes are integrally tied in with civic duty. The government knows that if it can make taxes seem as boring as possible, it will be given a free hand by the public to manipulate tax law as it sees fit. There is also a discussion in the book about a general decline in people's interest in being a citizen. This may or may not have to do with people finding it trendy to protest the Vietnam war. In other words, the IRS is an institution of great importance, dealing with issues of both economic and philosophical importance and yet it is disdainfully overlooked by the populace, whose economic destinies it plays a part in shaping. This can be easily expanded into a critique of greater scope that includes more general ethics, neighborliness, etc. etc.
3. The bizarre particularity of the characters names mocks destiny.
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