The Banality of Good: The Pale King by David Foster Wallace

5 thoughts on “The Banality of Good: The Pale King by David Foster Wallace”

1. For those who want a taste of Pale King, there’s this DFW poem-y thingie.Report

2. I’ve read all of DFW’s books except for the one about infinity, and The Pale King is sitting on my bookshelf waiting for me to finish what I’m reading now (which is taking a while).

   Great review, Christopher. I was thinking of maybe trying a blog read-along with TPK when I started it. Would it lend itself to such a thing?Report

   1. Thanks, Russell. Being unfinished, the Pale King is rather ambiguous. I’m not sure how much of this is because the book is unpolished or how much was intended by the author. I’ve heard that Wallace as a writer often uses ambiguity, but this is the first major work of his I’ve read. Personally, I enjoyed reading the text with this ambiguous element. It really forced me to stretch my imagination. But I don’t think doing a blog read-along would spoil anything. It’d be a different experience entirely though, knowing what various sections are about.

      Hope that helps.Report

3. Did you join the League, Carr? Nobody tells me anything these days. In any event, welcome. I’m looking forward to reading your stuff.Report

   1. Sort of. I’ll be posting a series on unemployment on the main page. The first post went up July 4th at like 1:00 A.M., so it may have gone unnoticed.Report

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