In search of David Foster Wallace's Pale King | Books | The Guardian:
"These lines could support a contention that the novel's apparent incompleteness is in fact intentional. David ended his first novel in the middle of a line of dialogue and his second with large plot questions addressed only glancingly. One character in The Pale King describes a play he's written in which a man sits at a desk, working silently, until the audience leaves, at which point the play's action begins. But, he continues, 'I could never decide on the action, if there was any'."

That's a fascinating premise and might perhaps speak to Wallace's feeling that the "action" of reality takes place after life? Or the feeling of incompleteness in life, that there must be something more taking place off screen or off stage or after the novel has been read, something just beyond our grasp.

via Robot Wisdom