You’re probably wondering what’s in the archive. For the most part,
these are handwritten and typed bits and pieces and scenes from the book
published as The Pale King. Other titles for the book include Glitterer, Sir John Feelgood, and my personal favorite, What Is Peoria For?
There is a mass of material labeled “freewriting.” The same scenes are
written and rewritten many times. There are lists upon lists of
characters and possible names for them. There are maps. There are
printouts of tax returns, pixilated images of enormous offices divided
into cubicles, of actual tingle tables used by the IRS, there’s a map of
Peoria. (Each of these has about a million tack points in it, or
double-sided tape on the back, which suggests he had them posted up on
his walls.)
- 'The Human Heart is a Chump': Cataloguing the Pale King
descensus Averno facilis est