David Markson

David Markson

David Markson Obituary

Published by Legacy Remembers on Jun. 7, 2010.
NEW YORK (AP) — David Markson, a revered postmodern author who rummaged relentlessly and humorously through art, history and reality itself in such novels as "Wittgenstein's Mistress," and wrote crime fiction, poetry and a spoof of Westerns made into the Frank Sinatra film "Dirty Dingus Magee," has died at age 82.

Markson's two children found him on June 4 in his bed in his Greenwich Village apartment, the author's literary agent and former wife Elaine Markson said Monday. She did not know the cause of death or when he died, but said Markson had been in failing health.

Little known to the general public, Markson was idolized by a core of fans that included Ann Beattie and David Foster Wallace. He was celebrated for his insights and for how he expressed them, often in paragraphs lasting just a sentence or two. "Wittgenstein's Mistress," his most acclaimed work, and other novels were interior monologues on the state of the world and the state of the author's mind. "Nonlinear. Discontinuous. Collage-like" was how he summed up his approach, in the novel "Reader's Block."

A native of Albany, N.Y., raised by a newspaper editor (his father) and school teacher (his mother), Markson was an undergraduate at Union College, then received a master's in 1952 from Columbia University. His thesis on Malcolm Lowry's "Under the Volcano" led to a long friendship with the author. Markson also came to know Dylan Thomas (a fellow patron at New York's famous Lion's Head Tavern) and Jack Kerouac, allegedly so drunk when Markson asked for an autograph that he jammed his pen right through the paper.

Markson was ambitious, daring, but also tethered to everyday needs. He edited crime fiction at Dell Books in the 1950s and wrote "entertainments," detective novels, now cult favorites, including "Epitaph for a Tramp" and "Epitaph for a Dead Beat." Commercial success was reached in the mid-1960s with "The Ballad of Dingus Magee," which became the 1970 Sinatra movie "Dirty Dingus Magee."

Able at last to support himself, he completed "Going Down," a thriller set in Mexico and the beginning of his increasingly unconventional style, continued in "Springer's Progress" and mastered in "Wittgenstein's Mistress," published in 1988 by Dalkey Archive Press after being rejected by more than 20 publishers, Elaine Markson said. The novel was narrated by a woman who may be the last human on Earth, her severance from place and time in the spirit of the text itself.

"Perhaps I am no more than 47 or 48," the narrator explains. "I am certain that I once attempted to keep a makeshift accounting, possibly of the months, but surely at least of the seasons. But I do not even remember any longer when it was that I understood I had already since lost track."

Foster Wallace would list the novel as among the most "direly unappreciated" and call it "pretty much the high point of experimental fiction in this country."

Latter novels such as "Vanishing Point" and "This Is Not a Novel" were increasingly interior and abstract, narrated by an "Author" or "Writer" or "Reader" and looping back from random thoughts about the outside world to the storyteller's mind and to the book itself.

"Markson does away with most narrative conventions — plot, colorful characters, dramatic conflict — to replace them with a collage of very short anecdotes, apocryphal legends, aphorisms, lurid gossip about writers and artists' lives and deaths — as they run through the aging Novelist's fragmented consciousness," Catherine Textier wrote in The New York Times Book Review in 2007, referring to his aptly titled "The Last Novel."

Elaine Markson said she and the author married in 1956 and remained close after divorcing in the 1980s. Besides their two children, the author is survived by three grandchildren. Acting on the wishes of David Markson, his former wife said there will be no funeral, just a private memorial for the family, and that his body will be cremated. He also asked that he receive no public memorial.

"But I'm ignoring his request," she said, adding that a date had not yet been determined.


Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press

Sign David Markson's Guest Book

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September 26, 2010

Tricia Collins posted to the memorial.

June 24, 2010

Jane Stamm posted to the memorial.

June 17, 2010

KAN posted to the memorial.

23 Entries

Tricia Collins

September 26, 2010

I was listing to NPR today and learned of David's death. I am sorry and offer condolences. I loved talking with David at the Lion's Head. I love it that he escorted me to the White Horse Tavern and told me of his last night with Dylan Thomas there. David was brilliant and funny.

Jane Stamm

June 24, 2010

David, in the 1950's I remember you asked me (in the West End Bar, where you sat puzzling, a Bible in your lap, surrounded by your admirers), "Jane, you don't happen to know where Moses was when the lights went out?" "Yes, of course, I know." You were astonished. How could I possibly know? It's a Dublin, Catholic school kids' riddle--not an erudite biblical reference. It corresponds to Joyce's other riddle--"Who was MacIntosh?"

Your brilliance dazzled me, and still does. I'm immensely grateful for the hours I spent listening to you, and they informed my life.

Like you, I plan that my ashes will blow in the wind. But that is not all of you that will survive. The memory of your laughter, your incomparable wit, your searching intelligence, your beautiful energy and creativity will live among those of us who knew you. I am still laughing at so many of your bons mots. Your laughter lives--beautifully.

KAN

June 17, 2010

I just want to express my sincere condolences to the family and hope that you can draw comfort from the God of all comfort.

Judy & David

June 13, 2010

What a remarkable man he was. He will be missed by all.

June 13, 2010

David Markson you Are Now in Heaven With The Angles To A Job Well Done you Will Not Be Forgotten on You B-day Have Fun R.i.p 1927-2010

June 12, 2010

Thoughts of sympathy is with your family. May God's promise of the resurrection sustain you. Revelation 21:3,4

Mike Hudson

June 12, 2010

God bless David Markson, a great writer and good friend. His writing will live forever.

KEN&MARY O'DANIEL

June 12, 2010

WE ARE SENDING OUR LOVE,PRAYERS,&CONDOLENCES TO THE MARKSON FAMILY,FRIENDS,FANS,&ALL WHO KNEW MR. MARKSON.

Franck Wahl

June 12, 2010

Hello, god bless.

June 11, 2010

We are so sorry to hear of the loss of your loved one.Please accept our deepest condolences. John5:28&29 Atlanta,Georgia

June 9, 2010

To the Family and Friends of David Markson,

So very sorry for this great loss may you find a maeasure of peace from the following thought God is healing the broken hearted ones, and is binding up their painful spots.

You can feel that Death can leave a heartache that nothing can heal, just know that Love can leave a memory that no one can steal.

The Grant Famiy

Shirley Griffin

June 9, 2010

I am so sorry for your loss may the God of all comfort and tender mercies be with you in your timr of grief.

Cheryl Gross

June 8, 2010

Please notify me if there is a public memorial.

Cheryl (Mrs. William K.) Gross

June 8, 2010

I am very sad to hear that my 'ol English prof from LIU (Long Island University, Brooklyn campus) has died. I have such fond memories of his class (we had a weekly assignment to always read the Sunday TIMES!), that I found his phone number online a few years ago and called him, and he actually answered the phone! We had a lovely conversation; he said he remembered me, and he subsequently sent me postcards about his latest books being published. I went to The Strand to see his display, and bought myself another copy of "The Ballad of Dingus McGee" which I had lent to a friend who never returned it. I had hoped to see him again one day to get his autograph. My condolences to his family; please let me know when/if there will be a public memorial for Mr. Markson. Thank you.

Wilson

June 8, 2010

Please accept our warmest sympathies and be comforted knowing that God is “near to those that are broken at heart, and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.” (Psalm 34: 18).

R Golay

June 8, 2010

To the the family of David Markson - May God give you peace and comfort through his word and the Lord Jesus Christ during this time of sorrow,I know that Davud will be missed by many.

June 8, 2010

Sorry to hear of the loss of your loved one. Our Heavenly Father has promised that he will keep our loved ones that have fallen asleep in death in his memory. This provides hope because it shows us that our loved ones will be resurrected with the prospect of living forever.

VENA BERRY

June 7, 2010

To the family & friends of David Markson, I am very sorry for your loss. Please accept my condolences & know that you all will be in my prayers. May you find comfort & solance in God's encouraging words from the bible that "God is healing the broken-hearted ones, & is binding up their painful spots." - Psalms 147:3.

June 7, 2010

Dear Family i am so sorry for your loss in this time of sadness my prayers go out to the family but God does promise that "he will wipe out every tear from their eyes and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore." Hopefully these comforting words can help you to have a more hopeful future.

AARON O'DWYER

June 7, 2010

I AM SO VERY SORRY TO HERE ABOUT THE DEATH IN YOUR FAMILY YOUR FAMILY ARE IN MY PRAYERS AT THIS TIME OF NEED

June 7, 2010

Family,
We are deeply sorry for your untimely loss.
Our condolences to the Family. May you
draw comfort from the God of all comfort
who comforts us in all our trials.
As the last enemy, death will no longer
have the power to take our loved one's
away said Jesus Christ.

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Sign David Markson's Guest Book

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September 26, 2010

Tricia Collins posted to the memorial.

June 24, 2010

Jane Stamm posted to the memorial.

June 17, 2010

KAN posted to the memorial.