Exclusive to The Millions: The first lines of David Foster Wallace's The Pale King.
Spoilers, obviously. The novel’s project, I gather, is to be the whole of boredom; to make art of boredom, and find in boredom transcendence and rescue. In light of this, opening with a landscape & weather description (something that notoriously bores and frustrates readers) strikes me as bold, risky, and deliberate.
Of course, it’s possible Wallace never intended for this to become the opening line.
WWWWOOOOOORRRRRDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!
And an allusion to one of my favorite lines: “On his wise shoulders through the checkerwork of leaves the sun flung spangles, dancing coins.”
(Via thefeeling)
