The Howling Fantods

Julio has set up a tribute to David Foster Wallace in the form of an art blog, Forever DFW. 

 

You can use the contact information over there to submit your own artistic tributes.

So which cover of David Foster Wallace's The Pale King do you prefer? The US edition cover (the playing card) is designed by David Foster Wallace's widow, artist Karen Green (check out her work at www.beautifulcrap.com, I'm particularly fond of the machines series, and Here/Gone: An ABC Flip Book For Grown Ups looks interesting). The UK edition (stack of papers) is designed by Jon Gray (one of my favourite cover designers) and is a completely different take.

 

Which do you like best? Why? Hit up the comments below.

 

 

I thought this would be a good opportunity to let you all know that I've worked out the issue to do with confirmation emails not appearing for those of you trying to register. I use a spam block email address (due to a spam attack last year), so if you use gmail, yahoo mail, hotmail etc. then the confirmation might get forwarded to your spam folder. Check there! If you remember your username and password I've automatically enabled some of you who signed up recently. Otherwise, let me know, and I'll fix your account.

 

 

The UK cover for The Pale King is designed by Jon Gray. Check it out (and the press release) below:

 

 

Hamish Hamilton are excited to reveal their cover for David Foster Wallace's hugely anticipated final work, the novel The Pale King, to be published on Friday 15th April, 2011. Designed by Jon Gray, the cover references both the main setting of the novel, in a US tax office, and the circumstances of its discovery – heavily annotated manuscript pages with detailed notes on the assembly of the novel – put together by Wallace’s long-time US editor Michael Pietsch, in accordance with his final instructions.

David Foster Wallace's last and most ambitious undertaking, The Pale King remained unfinished at the time of the author's death, but it is a deeply intriguing and rewarding novel, hilarious and fearless and as original as anything Wallace ever undertook.

Set at an IRS tax-return-processing centre in Illinois in the mid-1980s, The Pale King is the story of a crew of entry-level processors and their attempts to do their job in the face of soul-crushing tedium.

Michael Pietsch, David Foster Wallace’s long-time US publisher, and the editor of The Pale King, says, ‘Wallace takes agonizing daily events like standing in lines, traffic jams, and horrific bus rides — things we all hate — and turns them into moments of laughter and understanding. Although David did not finish the novel, it is a surprisingly whole and satisfying reading experience that showcases his extraordinary imaginative talents and his mixing of comedy and deep sadness in scenes from daily life.’


Simon Prosser, publisher of Hamish Hamilton UK, says ‘David Foster Wallace was perhaps the most influential American novelist of the last quarter century.  I love his writing and I’m incredibly proud that we will be publishing this book for a UK audience.’

 

[cheers, Joe]

The Harry Ransom Centre has posted photos of the event, including the cake. 

 

It's over, congratulations to all those involved, you can grab the full mp3 audio here: 51mb download.

 

Watch the video Part 1 and Part 2

 

Any pictures of the cake? I'd love you reports of events after the readings.

 

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NYT Arts Beat David Foster Wallace Papers Opening to the Public

New York Observer David Foster Wallace's Papers Set to Go Public

 

A reminder over at the Independent about the opening of the archive. Streaming from just before 7pm CT. I'll be watching from here in Australia.

 

Great news that Consider the Archive: An Evening of David Foster Wallace on September 14, the commemoration for the opening of the Harry Ransom David Foster Wallace Archive, will be streamed live over the web for people who can't make it.

 

[Thanks, Matt]

Little Brown have released details about The Pale King 's publication date and the US cover:

 

(New York, NY — September 14, 2010) Little, Brown and Company has released both the publication date and jacket artwork for the highly anticipated posthumous novel by David Foster Wallace. The Pale King will be published on April 15, 2011, Tax Day, with bookstores across the country hosting events on that date to celebrate the publication. The jacket art was created by Wallace’s widow, Karen Green, a painter and visual artist who often works in mixed media.

 

Set at an IRS tax-return-processing center in Illinois in the mid-1980s, The Pale King is the story of a crew of entry-level processors and their attempts to do their job in the face of soul-crushing tedium. “The Pale King may be the first novel to make accountants and IRS agents into heroes,” says Bonnie Nadell, Wallace’s longtime agent and literary executor. Michael Pietsch, Little, Brown’s publisher and The Pale King’s editor, says, “Wallace takes agonizing daily events like standing in lines, traffic jams, and horrific bus rides — things we all hate — and turns them into moments of laughter and understanding. Although David did not finish the novel, it is a surprisingly whole and satisfying reading experience that showcases his extraordinary imaginative talents and his mixing of comedy and deep sadness in scenes from daily life.” 

For the Tax Day events, Little, Brown plans to help bookstores link up with local writers to lead readings and discussions of The Pale King and to celebrate David Wallace. Any bookstore that would like to be a part of the publication date events should contact Marlena Bittner at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

Little, Brown and Company is the publisher of many of David Foster Wallace’s books, including Infinite Jest, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, Consider the Lobster, Oblivion, This is Water, and A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again. Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group. Founded in 1837, Little, Brown has long been recognized as a publisher committed to publishing fiction of the highest quality.

The David Foster Wallace archive at the Harry Ransom Center is now open for research. The website includes samples of teaching materials and some of the additional materials in the collection.

 

You can also check out the contents of David Foster Wallace's library by searching the UTexas Library Catalog.

 

I'd love to see the annotations in William Gibson's Pattern Recognition, John Barth's Lost in the Funhouse and Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

 

Don't forget to watch the live stream for Consider the Archive tonight!

 

Scope and Contents [via]

The David Foster Wallace Papers document all but one of Wallace’s major works, and many of his shorter works. The major works represented are: Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (1999); The Broom of the System (1987); Consider the Lobster, And Other Essays (2005); Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity (2003); Girl with Curious Hair (1989); Infinite Jest (1996); Oblivion: Stories (2004); The Pale King, scheduled for publication in 2011; and A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments (1997). McCain’s Promise: Aboard the Straight Talk Express (2008) is documented with two previously published short versions titled "The Weasel, Twelve Monkeys, and the Shrub," and "Up, Simba."  Signifying Rappers: Rap and Race in the Urban Present (1990), coauthored by Wallace and Mark Costello, is Wallace’s only major work without representation. See the Index of Works for a complete listing of all titles in the papers.

 

The papers are organized into three series: I. Works, 1984-2006, undated; II. Personal and Career-related, 1971-2008, undated; and III. Copies of Works by Don DeLillo, undated. Series I. has been subdivided into two subseries: A. Novels and Collections, 1987-2006, undated and B. Short Works, 1984-2006, undated. All of the materials are in English.

 

Series I. makes up the bulk of the collection and includes handwritten notes and drafts, notebooks, interview notes, research materials, typescript drafts, proofs, and promotional materials. Some works are represented by as little as a single uncorrected typescript, but other works, such as Everything and More, provide comprehensive documentation of Wallace’s full creative process with research materials, notebooks, handwritten drafts, original and revised typescript drafts, annotated and corrected 1st, 2nd, and 3rd pass copyedited drafts, and related correspondence. The majority of the typewritten drafts contain significant annotations and corrections by Wallace, often in different color inks for subsequent passes through a particular draft. Also present are Wallace’s many comments, frequently humorous and often written on sticky notes attached to the transcripts, written to the people involved in the various stages of editing.

 

Series II. contains personal and professional records including teaching materials, childhood schoolwork, and college awards, essays, and exams. Also present are some personal journal pages, a “midwesternisms” notebook, and research materials such as handwritten entomology notes.

 

Series III. consists solely of photocopy typescripts of three works by Don DeLillo, one of which, Underworld, contains extensive handwritten annotations by Wallace.

 

A relatively small amount of correspondence is in the papers, and what is present is almost entirely work-related between Wallace and his editors, fact-checkers, etc. All incoming letters are listed in an Index of Correspondents. The majority of Wallace’s papers are in excellent condition, with only a few items requiring preservation photocopying and/or special housing.

 

Additional materials related to The Pale King are expected at the Ransom Center sometime in 2011 after publication of the novel.