I've heard multiple people who strongly dislike David Foster Wallace say that they enjoyed The Pale King

I've heard multiple people who strongly dislike David Foster Wallace say that they enjoyed The Pale King.

Why do you think this is?

because by the time he left the manuscript after his death, Franzen had already cognitively poisoned all the maximalism and talent out of DFW's work, in his later years he was beginning to disdain experimental fiction

Because it seems like he's trying to say something every chapter (in same cases overtly/explicitly) instead of showing you how clever, and well adjusted he is

Because he died while writing it

Infinite Jest is virgin reddit. Pale King is chad Veeky Forums

He couldn't get in the way of the editors.

I'm reading the Pale King now and he literally rips off King with his whole 'teehee the author is a character in the book!" thing.

>The Pale "King"

Is the title an allusion to Idylls of the King? Both are about idealism, in a sense

>his only point of reference in literature is stephen king
R E A D M O R E
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before you post again

Serious question though what the fuck was up with the kid who wanted to kiss every square inch of his body? I have an inkling of what was going on in that section but I was distracted by constant thoughts that if I was as limber as the kid it'd be autofellatio all day for me.

Because they're contrarions.
>Lol durrr this dudes most well known work isnt good, but his half finished book is the best thing hes ever done
Shitposting aside, I did enjoy TPK a bit more tho than IJ. Its a lot less preachy and its more about painting these quick scenes.

>quick scenes.
I fucking wish. The first chapter where Wallace talks about himself and later the chapter with him in the IRS bus felt like it took a fucking year to read. That shit was the definition of overstaying your welcome.

I preferred Infinite Jest, but The Pale King is written better. It would be very nice to see what DFW would have done had he the chance to go back and write Infinite Jest again when he was older... obviously that sort of defeats the point, but still. The family and the world of IJ was my favorite part. The Pale King has enjoyable characters but none such as Hal and Mario and the father and the mother and Don and all of them... maybe this makes me an idiot to those of you who read for more than character (whatever you’re reading for), but I am a sucker for tragedy.

That's a basic metafictional device

I feel that because DFW chose to move toward a more buttoned-down, despairing, un-fun realism in the period leading up to his suicide, he lost the parodic/over-the-top register that made IJ so much fun. I agree that in a technical sense TPK is probably "better written" but I'd rather read a worse written book with great characters like Hal, Mario, Orin than a work of technically stunning realism steeped in pure despair. Delighting the reader is also a purpose of art y'know.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I think layering the Pale King style over IJ would remove the half the manic fun.

You've never tried to do weird shit like that when you were a kid just because you were bored? I could totally see myself trying to do that but getting bored in five minutes.

because pale king is good

Sure, but there has to be a 'deeper' meaning. Like, I'm guessing it's about mental development spurred on by a long term goal causing the child to be calm and determined (which is juxtaposed against his dad, who is nervous and busies himself with creating short audio tapes rather than a long term project).

Pale King was my first DFW read and it did not leave me wanting to explore more of his work

reminded me of mille plateaux to be honest

Good Old Neon and A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again are worth a read

His essays feel like a well written sort of ten page spread that an upper crust subscription magazine would publish. It's the kind of a thing you would read on a lazy Sunday morning over breakfast and coffee. It's cozy if you only treated it as a bit of light humor. I wish I had stopped at the essays. His short stories are atrocious and IJ was a turgid piece of crap.

>like a well written sort of ten page spread that an upper crust subscription magazine would publish.

Like... Harper's

Or Rolling stone, Esquire, Waterstone etc. I didn't really word it well. I mean I know they were published to those kinds of magazines which explains why they feel like that, but they still feel like that.