David Foster Wallace

The Pale King to Be Released April 15

Set in “soul-crushing tedium” of IRS office.

David Foster Wallace’s unfinished novel The Pale King will be released April 15 next year, publisher Little, Brown announced as it revealed the book’s cover. Wallace’s novel takes place in “an IRS tax-return-processing center in Illinois in the mid-1980s,” and follows “a crew of entry-level processors and their attempts to do their job in the face of soul-crushing tedium.” Michael Pietsch, Wallace’s editor, said that even though the book is unfinished, it’s a satisfying read that showcases the author’s “extraordinary imaginative talents and his mixing of comedy and deep sadness in scenes from daily life.” Wallace’s widow, Karen Green, designed the cover.