When we published our lovely issue #25 on American author, publisher and cultural jack of all trades Dave Eggers, he implied that he was finally working on a new novel with an original story – as opposed to his two previous political biographies What is the What and Zeitoun – which, almost two years later, finally sees the day of light under the wings of Eggers’ own imprint McSweeneys.
A Hologram for the King not only sports one of the greatest book covers in the last few years, a beautifully embellished relief pattern, but also blends Eggers’ political interests of his recent work with the acute dissection of our state of mind in modern times of his early novels, such as You Shall Know Our Velocity!
A Hologram for the King tells the story of a slightly disheveled and disheartened American salesman dispatched to the quasi-nonexistent King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia to pitch for a large IT contract. As so often with Eggers, it is a story of stasis and confusion, as well as an acute diagnosis of the Western world in a state of dazzled disorientation among a global power shift. Funny and melancholic at the same time, it is a bitter-sweet elegy for a once great nation that has lost its way, wondering where it all went wrong.
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[...] and who better to face the task than Jessica Hirsche, who has already crafted so many of our McSweeney’s favourites… (and who is simply funny – pay attention to her URLs over at her website…) [...]