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References

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References

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	== Further reading ==		== Further reading ==

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{{Short description|American postmodern novelist}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = David Markson
| image = David markson.jpg
| caption = Markson in September 2007
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1927|12|20}}
| birth_place = [[Albany, New York]], U.S.
| death_date = (body found) {{Death date and age|2010|6|4|1927|12|20|mf=yes}}
| death_place = [[Greenwich Village]], [[New York (state)|New York]], U.S.
| years_active = 1956–2007
| education = [[Columbia University]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]])
| occupation = [[Novelist]]
| period= Postmodern
| genre= Experimental fiction
| subject=
| movement=
| notable_works= ''Going Down'', ''Springer's Progress'', ''[[Wittgenstein's Mistress]]'', '' [[Reader's Block]]'', ''This Is Not A Novel'', ''Vanishing Point'', ''[[The Last Novel]]''
| spouse=
| children=
| relatives=
}}
'''David Merrill Markson''' (December 20, 1927 – {{circa}} June 4, 2010)<ref name="legacy.com">[http://www.legacy.com/NS/Obituary.aspx?pid=143422183 Legacy.com Featured Tribute: David Markson] as of June 7, 2010, when this article was published, the exact time of Markson's death is not known. This article states that his body was found on June 4, 2010</ref> was an American [[novelist]]. He was the author of several [[postmodern literature|postmodern novels]], including ''Springer's Progress'', ''[[Wittgenstein's Mistress]]'', ''[[Reader's Block]]'' and ''[[This Is Not a Novel]]'' . His final book, ''[[The Last Novel]]'', published in 2007, was called "a real tour de force" by ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref>{{Cite news | title = Old. Tired. Sick. Alone. Broke. | last = Texier | first = Catherine | date = July 8, 2007 | newspaper = New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/books/review/Texier.html?ex=1341460800&en=c81acefd1162ef87&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink }}</ref>

Markson's work is characterized by an unconventional and experimental approach to narrative, character development and plot. The late writer [[David Foster Wallace]] hailed ''Wittgenstein's Mistress'' as "pretty much the high point of experimental fiction in this country".<ref>David Foster Wallace. "[https://www.salon.com/1999/04/12/wallace/]", ''Salon'', April 12, 1999. Retrieved October 21, 2021.</ref> While his early works draw on the [[modernist literature|modernist tradition]] of [[William Faulkner]] and [[Malcolm Lowry]], his later novels are, in Markson's words, "literally crammed with literary and artistic anecdotes" and "nonlinear, discontinuous, collage-like, an assemblage."<ref name="bookslut.com">{{cite web | title=Bookslut interview with David Markson | url=http://www.bookslut.com/features/2005_07_005963.php | access-date=2006-06-14 | archive-date=2015-09-06 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906064838/http://www.bookslut.com/features/2005_07_005963.php | url-status=dead }}</ref>

In addition to his output of modernist and postmodernist experimental literature, he published a book of poetry,<ref name="Niagara Falls Reporter"/> a critical study of Malcolm Lowry,<ref>{{cite web | title=David Markson Bibliography | url=http://madinkbeard.com/blog/archives/david-markson-a-bibliography | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120715211952/http://madinkbeard.com/blog/archives/david-markson-a-bibliography | url-status=dead | archive-date=2012-07-15 }}</ref> three crime novels, and an [[Anti-Western (genre)|anti-Western]], ''The Ballad of Dingus Magee'', adapted into the film ''[[Dirty Dingus Magee]]'', starring [[Frank Sinatra]].<ref>{{cite web |title=IMDB page for Dirty Dingus Magee| website = [[IMDb]] | url = https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065642/ }}</ref>

== Biography ==

David Merrill Markson was born in [[Albany, New York]], on December 20, 1927.<ref name="Niagara Falls Reporter">[http://niagarafallsreporter.com/markson2.html Niagara Falls Reporter]</ref><ref name="madinkbeard.com">{{cite web | title=David Markson: An Introduction | url=http://madinkbeard.com/blog/archives/david-markson-an-introduction}}</ref> He was of [[Jews|Jewish]] origin.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/all-sad-old-literary-artifacts-david-markson-74809|title=All the Sad Old Literary Artifacts of David Markson|last=EDT|first=Seth Colter Walls On 7/29/10 at 7:45 AM|date=2010-07-29|website=Newsweek|language=en|access-date=2019-11-15}}</ref>

Educated at [[Union College (New York)|Union College]] and [[Columbia University]], Markson began his writing career as a journalist and book editor, periodically taking up work as a college instructor at [[Columbia University]], [[Long Island University]], and [[The New School]].<ref>"David Merrill Markson" in ''Contemporary Authors Online'', Thomson Gale, 2007.</ref>

Though his first novel was published in the late 1950s, he did not gain prominence until the late 1980s, when he was over 60 years old, with the publication of ''Wittgenstein's Mistress''. From that point, his reputation as a writer steadily grew, so much so that he told an interviewer: "One of my friends told me to be careful before I become well known for being unknown."<ref name="bookslut.com"/>

Markson died in [[New York City]], in his [[West Village]] apartment where, according to the author's literary agent and former wife Elaine Markson, Markson's two children found him on June 4, 2010, in his bed.<ref name="legacy.com"/><ref name="Long Island Press">[http://www.longislandpress.com/2010/06/07/david-markson-postmodern-master-dead-at-age-82/ Long Island Press: David Markson, postmodern master, dead at age 82] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727130939/http://www.longislandpress.com/2010/06/07/david-markson-postmodern-master-dead-at-age-82/ |date=2011-07-27 }}</ref>

Upon Markson's death, his entire personal library was donated to the [[Strand Bookstore]], according to his wishes.

== ''Wittgenstein's Mistress'' ==

''[[Wittgenstein's Mistress]]'', widely considered his masterpiece, was published in 1988 by [[Dalkey Archive Press]]. Though Markson's original manuscript was rejected 54 times,<ref>[http://readingmarksonreading.tumblr.com/post/1311331865/the-last-page-of-david-marksons-copy-of-the Reading Markson Reading, The last page of David Markson’s copy of ''The Failure of Criticism''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424003937/http://readingmarksonreading.tumblr.com/post/1311331865/the-last-page-of-david-marksons-copy-of-the |date=2012-04-24 }} by [[Henri Peyre]]</ref> the book, when finally published, met with critical acclaim. It is a highly stylized, [[experimental novel]] in the tradition of [[Samuel Beckett|Beckett]]. The novel is mainly a series of statements made in the [[First-person narrative|first person]]; the [[protagonist]] is a woman who believes herself to be the last human on earth. Though her statements shift quickly from topic to topic, the topics are often recurrent, and often reference Western cultural icons, ranging from [[Zeno of Elea|Zeno]] to [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]] to [[Willem de Kooning]]. Readers familiar with [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]]'s ''[[Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus]]'' will recognize striking stylistic similarities to that work.

[[Amy Hempel]] praised it for "address[ing] formidable philosophic questions with tremendous wit."<ref>Amy Hempel. "[https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/22/books/home-is-where-the-art-is.html Home is Where the Art Is]", ''The New York Times'', May 22, 1988. Retrieved December 3, 2014.</ref> A decade later, [[David Foster Wallace]] described it as "pretty much the high point of experimental fiction in this country" in an article for Salon entitled "Five direly underappreciated U.S. novels >1960."<ref>''[[Salon (website)|Salon]]'', April 12, 1999, [https://www.salon.com/1999/04/12/wallace/ "Five direly underappreciated U.S. novels >1960"]</ref>

== Markson's Tetralogy (aka ''The Notecard Quartet'') ==

Markson's late works further refine the allusive, minimalist style of ''Wittgenstein's Mistress''. He hoped that these four novels might eventually be published together in one volume.<ref>[http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bw/bw080925david_markson KCRW Bookworm Interview with David Markson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131026000429/http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bw/bw080925david_markson |date=2013-10-26 }}:{{blockquote|"I'm hoping one day--I don't imagine I'll still be here--but these four books, perhaps one more, will be printed in one volume."}}</ref> Thus, critics often discuss them as a tetralogy and, though Markson himself gave no title to this collection of novels, many critics have adopted the name ''The Notecard Quartet'' to describe this work as a whole.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Fletcher|first1=Richard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jNhsDQAAQBAJ&q=%22the+notecard+quartet%22&pg=PA227|title=Creative Lives in Classical Antiquity: Poets, Artists and Biography|last2=Hanink|first2=Johanna|date=2016-11-21|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-15908-2|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Drag|first=Wojciech|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dHy-DwAAQBAJ&q=markson+notecard+quartet&pg=PT105|title=Collage in Twenty-First-Century Literature in English: Art of Crisis|date=2019-11-12|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-000-76067-5|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-09-16|title=TFW You Realize Maybe David Markson Invented Twitter|url=https://lithub.com/tfw-you-realize-maybe-david-markson-invented-twitter/|access-date=2020-09-28|website=Literary Hub|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Biblioklept|date=2015-08-18|title=Issue 1.1 of The Scofield catches up to David Markson|url=https://biblioklept.org/2015/08/18/issue-1-1-of-the-scofield-catches-up-to-david-markson/|access-date=2020-09-28|website=Biblioklept|language=en}}</ref>

Markson described the action of this tetralogy as a character "sitting alone in a bedroom with a head full of everything he’s ever read." Most of the traditional comforts of the novel form are absent, as an author-figure closely identified with Markson himself<ref>Palleau-Papin, ''Francoise. This Is Not A Tragedy''. Dalkey Archive Press, 2011. Pg. xxvii of the Introduction: Markson is quoted as having said: "How much of myself is in there? It’s all me. Especially in ''[[Reader’s Block]]'', all that personal stuff re: Reader and/or Protagonist, ex-wife, ex-galfriends, children, lack of money, isolation, messed-up life, and/or some items dictated by novelistic necessity—and of course there is necessary invention there also, e.g., a house at a cemetery—but even little items like a couple of yellow stones from Masada or a reproduction of Giotto’s Dante—I plucked up whatever was ready at hand. Is that laziness, or is it what they speak of as using what one knows? Take your pick." {{ISBN|1-56478-607-2}}</ref> considers the travails of the artist throughout the history of culture. In ''[[Reader's Block]]'', he is called Reader; in ''[[This Is Not a Novel]]'', Writer; in ''Vanishing Point'', Author; in Markson's last novel, ''The Last Novel'', he is known as Novelist. His working process involved "scribbling the notes on three-by-five-inch index cards" and collecting them in "shoebox tops" until they were ready to be put "into manuscript form."<ref>Markson, David. ''Vanishing Point''. Shoemaker & Hoard, 2004. Pg. 1. {{ISBN|1-59376-010-8}}</ref>

The first in the “personal genre,” ''Reader's Block'', was published by Dalkey Archive Press in 1996. It was followed by ''This Is Not A Novel'' (Counterpoint, 2001), ''Vanishing Point'' (Shoemaker & Hoard, 2004) and ''The Last Novel'' (Shoemaker & Hoard, 2007). Of ''Reader's Block'', fellow writer and friend Kurt Vonnegut wrote, "David shouldn’t thank Fate for letting him write such a good book in a time when large numbers of people could no longer be wowed by a novel, no matter how excellent."

The second book, ''[[This Is Not a Novel]]'',<ref>Markson, David. ''This Is Not a Novel''. Counterpoint, 2001. {{ISBN|1-58243-133-7}}</ref> describes itself in a number of terms:

* "A novel" (p. 18)
* "An epic poem" (p. 21)
* "A sequence of cantos awaiting numbering"(p. 23)
* "A mural of sorts" (p. 36)
* "An autobiography" (p. 53)
* "A continued heap of riddles" (p. 70)
* "A polyphonic opera of a kind" (p. 73)
* "A disquisition on the maladies of the life of art" (p. 86)
* "An ersatz prose alternative to ''[[The Waste Land]]''" (p. 101)
* "A treatise on the nature of man" (p. 111)
* "An assemblage [nonlinear, discontinuous, collage-like]" (p. 128)
* "A contemporary variant on [''[[The Egyptian Book of the Dead]]'']" (p. 147)
* "A kind of verbal fugue" (p. 170)
* "A classic tragedy [in many ways]" (p. 171)
* "A volume entitled 'Writer's Block'" (p. 173)
* "A comedy of a sort" (p. 184)
* "His synthetic personal ''[[Finnegans Wake]]''" (p. 185)
* "Nothing more than a fundamentally recognizable genre all the while" (p. 189)
* "Nothing more or less than a read"
* "An unconventional, generally melancholy though sometimes even playful now-ending read."

In ''This Is Not a Novel'', the Writer character states, "A novel with no intimation of story whatsoever, Writer would like to contrive" (p. 2). ''Reader's Block,'' likewise, calls itself "a novel of intellectual reference and allusion, so to speak minus much of the novel" (p. 61). Rather than consisting of a specific plot, they can be said to be composed of "an intellectual ragpicker's collection of cultural detritus."<ref>[http://readingmarksonreading.tumblr.com/post/2068472096/pg-104-of-david-marksons-copy-of-on-the-iliad-by Reading Markson Reading, Pg. 104 of David Markson’s copy of ''On the Iliad''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110825175751/http://readingmarksonreading.tumblr.com/post/2068472096/pg-104-of-david-marksons-copy-of-on-the-iliad-by |date=2011-08-25 }}</ref> This seemingly-random set of quotes, ideas, and nuggets of information about the lives of various literary, artistic, and historical figures cohere to form a new kind of novel. Despite their unconventional form and appearance, Markson insisted on calling them "novels."<ref>Richard Kalich, ''The Assisted Living Facility Library'' (Green Integer, 2020), 116.</ref>

Though the last three novels of ''The Notecard Quartet'' have been published together in one book, ''This Is Not a Novel and Other Novels'', because the first book of the tetralogy was published by a different publisher, the entire quartet of novels has yet to be published together in one collection.

== Works ==
* ''Epitaph for a Tramp'' Dell, 1959.
* ''Epitaph for a Dead Beat'' Dell, 1961.
* ''The Ballad of Dingus Magee; Being the Immortal True Saga of the Most Notorious and Desperate Bad Man of the Olden Days, His Blood-Shedding, His Ruination of Poor Helpless Females, & Cetera; also including the Only Reliable Account ever offered to the Public of his Heroic Gun Battle with Sheriff C. L. Birdsill, Yerkey's Hole, New Mex., 1884, and with Additional Commentary on the Fateful and Mysterious Bordello-Burning of the Same Year; and furthermore interspersed with Trustworthy and Shamelessly Interesting Sketches of "Big Blouse" Belle Nops, Anna Hot Water, "Horseface" Agnes, and Others, hardly any Remaining Upright at the End. Composed in the Finest Modern English as taken diligently from the Genuine Archives'' Bobbs-Merrill, 1965. (Filmed as ''[[Dirty Dingus Magee]]'' (1970),
* ''Miss Doll, Go Home'' Dell, 1965.
* ''Going Down'' Holt Rinehart Winston, 1970.
* ''Springer's Progress'' Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1977.
* ''Malcolm Lowry's Volcano: Myth, Symbol, Meaning'' Times Books, 1978.
* ''[[Wittgenstein's Mistress]]'' Dalkey Archive, 1988.
* ''Collected Poems'' Dalkey Archive Press, 1993.
* ''The Notecard Quartet'', 1996–2007
** ''Reader's Block'' Dalkey Archive Press, 1996.<ref>Markson noted that unauthorized changes were made for the 2nd printing (2001) and asked readers to avoid it; see Laura Sims, ''Fare Forward: Letters from David Markson'' (powerHouse Books, 2014), p. 144. The 3rd printing of 2007 deleted most of the changes.</ref>
**''[[This Is Not a Novel]]'' Counterpoint, 2001.
**''[[Vanishing Point (Markson novel)|Vanishing Point]]'' Shoemaker & Hoard, 2004.
**''[[The Last Novel]]'' Shoemaker & Hoard, 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://madinkbeard.com/blog/archives/david-markson-a-bibliography |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120715211952/http://madinkbeard.com/blog/archives/david-markson-a-bibliography |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-07-15 |title=David Markson: A Bibliography |publisher=Madinkbeard |date=2007-04-20 |access-date=2010-09-19 }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

== Further reading ==
* John Barth / David Markson Number. ''Review of Contemporary Fiction''. 10.2 (Summer 1990): 91-254.
* Palleau-Papin, Francoise. ''Ceci n'est pas une tragédie. L'écriture de David Markson''. ENS Editions, 2007. {{ISBN|978-2-84788-106-6}}. English version (translated by the author): ''This Is Not a Tragedy: The Works of David Markson''. Dalkey Archive Press, 2011. {{ISBN|978-1-56478-607-4}}
* Sims, Laura. ''Fare Forward: Letters from David Markson''. powerHouse Books, 2014. {{ISBN|978-1-57687-700-5}}
* "David Markson and Solitude." ''The Scofield'', 1.1 (August 2015). [http://s55615.gridserver.com/The_Scofield_Issue_1.1_David_Markson_and_Solitude.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150922180137/http://s55615.gridserver.com/The_Scofield_Issue_1.1_David_Markson_and_Solitude.pdf |date=2015-09-22 }}

== External links ==
*[https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B9DS_zk2FintODcwOWM5OTAtNDE0ZC00MjY5LWIzZGYtODQ5NDY2YWQ2ZWI3&hl=en Biography and critical overview from American Writers Supplement XVII]
*[http://madinkbeard.com/archives/david-markson-an-introduction/ Introduction and Bibliography on David Markson]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20141108071120/http://www.essaysandfictions.com/vol_11/Ewald%20Ross%20XI%20final.pdf Markson's Pier, a novella published in Essays & Fictions in the style of David Markson, by David Ewald and Stuart Ross]
*[http://www.bookslut.com/features/2005_07_005963.php Bookslut.com Interview with David Markson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906064838/http://www.bookslut.com/features/2005_07_005963.php |date=2015-09-06 }}
*[http://dalkey.giantchair.com/book/?fa=customcontent&GCOI=15647100621780&extrasfile=D%3A\inetpub\wwwroot\giantchair\publishers\Dalkey%2Fresources%2Ftitles%2F15647100621780%2Fextras%2FA09F7CC9-B0D0-B086-B6651CCDAC0362C1.html Context interview with David Markson]{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
*[http://www.popmatters.com/books/reviews/t/this-is-not-a-novel.shtml Review of ''This is Not a Novel'']
*[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/arts/08markson.html?ref=obituaries David Markson, Postmodern Experimental Novelist, Is Dead at 82] obituary from [[The New York Times]] published June 7, 2010
*[http://nplusonemag.com/david-markson "Address Unknown: David Markson, 1927-2010"] in memoriam from [[n+1]]
*{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jun/14/david-markson-obituary |title=David Markson obituary: Experimental US novelist who avoided literary safety nets |last1=Dempsey|first1=Peter|work= The Guardian |access-date=1 July 2010 | location=London | date=June 14, 2010}} This article was published on guardian.co.uk at 18.36 BST on Monday 14 June 2010. A version appeared on p35 of the Main section of the Guardian on Tuesday 15 June 2010.
*{{cite web |url= http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/arts/catherine-corman/david-markson|title= Remembering David Markson|last1= Corman |first1= Catherine|publisher= The Economist Newspaper Limited|access-date= 1 July 2010}} This article appeared in the online version of ''Intelligent Life'' (Summer 2010).
*{{cite web|last=Sims |first=Laura |url=http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2013/04/instead-of-reading-this-you-should-be-reading-david-markson-part-one/ |title=Instead of Reading This, You Should Be Reading David Markson (Part One) : Laura Sims : Harriet the Blog |publisher=The Poetry Foundation |access-date=2013-05-02}}
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David Markson - Revision history

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