Issue 6 of The Lifted Brow arrived today containing a previously unpublished excerpt from David Foster Wallace's upcoming unfinished novel, The Pale King. It is titled A New Examiner and subtitled The Midwest. I think because the theme for this issue is an atlas and every piece in the collection is linked to a location on our planet).

 

A New Examiner features Lane Dean, Jr. taking a 15 minute break from processing tax returns at his workplace - that's all I'll reveal, I don't want to spoil it. It's not terribly long, but it does help to develop the character of Lane Dean, Jr. we've read in the various excerpts so far.

 

Stylistically it is very similar to the other excerpts - measured pace, careful and matter of fact description, focus on small details of specific things. It is very restrained. Which means I am even more excited for the arrival of The Pale King - I want to know more about Lane Dean, Jr.

 

The quality of the issue of The Lifted Brow is great. 300 pages of fiction, art, and 2 CDs of music. I'm looking forward to picking it up for a closer read later tonight.