July 26th, 2010 / 5:29 pm
Snippets

Books from David Markson’s personal library have been showing up in bulk at The Strand. Sad. If anybody gets some, would love to hear more about his notes. I knew living in New York was good for something.

67 Comments

  1. Matthew Simmons

      Just logged on to post about this.

      Can someone see if they can find Markson’s copy of Tristram Shandy for me? (If he, in fact, had one?)

  2. Herv

      Why is this sad? He’s dead. He doesn’t need them anymore.

  3. Matthew Simmons

      Possibly means sad because they haven’t ended up as a part of a Markson archive. Source material for his last four novels, and all that. An archeologist should be digging into all of them.

  4. ryan

      Apparently not a fan of white noise.

  5. Jamie Iredell

      Says in the blog post Blake linked to that homeboy bought Markson’s Tristram Shandy. I would LOVE to know what he had to say about that book.

  6. ZZZIPP

      ARGH

  7. ZZZIPP

      WHEN TODAY’S GENERATION OF NOVELISTS DIE THEIR BOOKS WILL BE SOLD TO THE “GENERATION FARMS” WHERE THEY WILL BE BROKEN DOWN INTO ALPHA MATTER. THAT IS THE REAL TRAGEDY.

  8. Matthew Simmons

      How did I miss that!?!?

  9. Kyle Minor

      Very sad.

  10. James Yeh

      Agreed. Going to try to stop by later this week.

  11. JimR

      I’m pretty unsentimental about books, but this just breaks my heart, and I really can’t say why.

  12. Blake Butler

      i’m with you

  13. marshall

      Are you in the future?

  14. Kyle Minor

      Pick up something for me!

  15. magick mike

      I kind of think this is way exciting. I almost prefer that these books end up with an unsuspecting reader, perhaps even someone unfamiliar with Markson. Maybe that’s what he wanted? The article almost makes it seem like Markson himself sold some of the books there.

      Consider a reader buying a copy of, say, White Noise, only to be more taken in by the commentary in the margins than the novel itself, then perhaps, on a whim, googling the name on the bookplate, and discovering Level Two of literature.

      In an archive they would perhaps get looked at once every five years, moan in dust, locked up within the academy. This way the books take on New Life. This way the books are Not Dead. They are not just evidence, they are themselves Moving.

      Assuming that, on a random chance, I Become Someone, I want my books to either disappear to chance and disseminate themselves all over, or else situate in a public library. I will not want to be de-mystified.

  16. Matthew Simmons

      Just logged on to post about this.

      Can someone see if they can find Markson’s copy of Tristram Shandy for me? (If he, in fact, had one?)

  17. Herv

      Why is this sad? He’s dead. He doesn’t need them anymore.

  18. Matthew Simmons

      Possibly means sad because they haven’t ended up as a part of a Markson archive. Source material for his last four novels, and all that. An archeologist should be digging into all of them.

  19. Ridge

      It’s like finding one of Hendrix’s guitars in a pawn shop.

  20. ryan

      Apparently not a fan of white noise.

  21. mimi

      “This way the books take on New Life. … They are not just evidence, they are themselves Moving.”

      Yes, well put magick mike. And their Paths, their Future Lives, will be determined in part by the LRB blog post and by Blake’s post here. Ripples. “The Butterfly Effect”. I’m imagining Imagined Journeys – that this is happening/will continue to happen out there somewhere. And that the World is Journeys, I think.

  22. zusya17

      awful thought: i wonder where his kindle will end up.

  23. Jamie Iredell

      Says in the blog post Blake linked to that homeboy bought Markson’s Tristram Shandy. I would LOVE to know what he had to say about that book.

  24. ZZZIPP

      ZZZIPP IS NO STRANGER TO THE FUTURE

  25. ZZZIPP

      M.M. THIS IS REALLY GREAT

  26. ZZZIPP

      ARGH

  27. ZZZIPP

      WHEN TODAY’S GENERATION OF NOVELISTS DIE THEIR BOOKS WILL BE SOLD TO THE “GENERATION FARMS” WHERE THEY WILL BE BROKEN DOWN INTO ALPHA MATTER. THAT IS THE REAL TRAGEDY.

  28. Matthew Simmons

      How did I miss that!?!?

  29. Kyle Minor

      Very sad.

  30. James Yeh

      Agreed. Going to try to stop by later this week.

  31. JimR

      I’m pretty unsentimental about books, but this just breaks my heart, and I really can’t say why.

  32. Blake Butler

      i’m with you

  33. James Yeh

      I will try!

  34. James Yeh

      Well put.

  35. d

      Or… they get bought up by book collectors and will moan in dust in someone’s house or apartment, where they won’t be accessible to anyone, ever.

      I work in a public library, and these are the sort of books being weeded from the shelves and thrown away. Unfortunately, academic libraries are the only places that store, preserve, and make available archival stuff like this.

  36. Guest

      Are you in the future?

  37. Kyle Minor

      Pick up something for me!

  38. magick mike

      I kind of think this is way exciting. I almost prefer that these books end up with an unsuspecting reader, perhaps even someone unfamiliar with Markson. Maybe that’s what he wanted? The article almost makes it seem like Markson himself sold some of the books there.

      Consider a reader buying a copy of, say, White Noise, only to be more taken in by the commentary in the margins than the novel itself, then perhaps, on a whim, googling the name on the bookplate, and discovering Level Two of literature.

      In an archive they would perhaps get looked at once every five years, moan in dust, locked up within the academy. This way the books take on New Life. This way the books are Not Dead. They are not just evidence, they are themselves Moving.

      Assuming that, on a random chance, I Become Someone, I want my books to either disappear to chance and disseminate themselves all over, or else situate in a public library. I will not want to be de-mystified.

  39. jamiegp

      This is not the way to find out David Markson died. Man, I’ve been working too much.

  40. Ridge

      It’s like finding one of Hendrix’s guitars in a pawn shop.

  41. mimi

      “This way the books take on New Life. … They are not just evidence, they are themselves Moving.”

      Yes, well put magick mike. And their Paths, their Future Lives, will be determined in part by the LRB blog post and by Blake’s post here. Ripples. “The Butterfly Effect”. I’m imagining Imagined Journeys – that this is happening/will continue to happen out there somewhere. And that the World is Journeys, I think.

  42. JW Veldhoen

      I know for a fact that most of those books came from the Strand in the first place, he read there, shopped. This is how it works, nobody gives a fuck, thank fuck. Someone else I know told me this story of seeing him walking from Boston Market with a quarter chicken.

  43. ZZZIPP

      ZZZIPP IS NO STRANGER TO THE FUTURE

  44. Donald

      In a general and wide-ranging sense, I don’t understand this post.

  45. ZZZIPP

      M.M. THIS IS REALLY GREAT

  46. Donald

      slash

      In a general and wide-ranging fuck, I don’t understand this fuck.

  47. James Yeh

      I will try!

  48. James Yeh

      Well put.

  49. d

      Or… they get bought up by book collectors and will moan in dust in someone’s house or apartment, where they won’t be accessible to anyone, ever.

      I work in a public library, and these are the sort of books being weeded from the shelves and thrown away. Unfortunately, academic libraries are the only places that store, preserve, and make available archival stuff like this.

  50. Steven Augustine

      I’m not into relic fetish-but Markson marking up a copy of White Noise? That’s a must-have

  51. jamiegp

      This is not the way to find out David Markson died. Man, I’ve been working too much.

  52. JW Veldhoen

      I know for a fact that most of those books came from the Strand in the first place, he read there, shopped. This is how it works, nobody gives a fuck, thank fuck. Someone else I know told me this story of seeing him walking from Boston Market with a quarter chicken.

  53. Donald

      In a general and wide-ranging sense, I don’t understand this post.

  54. Donald

      slash

      In a general and wide-ranging fuck, I don’t understand this fuck.

  55. magick mike

      and if you were a hendrix fan, that would be like basically the best day of your life, no?

  56. KTL

      I stumbled on this a few weeks ago— found his copies of William Gaddis’ Carpenter’s Gothic, A Frolic of His Own and Agape Agape. And yesterday, I picked up his copy of Philip Roth’s The Counterlife and—this is unbelievable—John Hawkes’ The Lime Twig, which was in the racks outside selling for A DOLLAR. So, got that too.

  57. Steven Augustine

      I’m not into relic fetish-but Markson marking up a copy of White Noise? That’s a must-have

  58. Pete Michael Smith

      A friend who works at the Strand bought all of Markson’s first edition Faulkner collection. Pretty serious stuff.

  59. magick mike

      and if you were a hendrix fan, that would be like basically the best day of your life, no?

  60. KTL

      I stumbled on this a few weeks ago— found his copies of William Gaddis’ Carpenter’s Gothic, A Frolic of His Own and Agape Agape. And yesterday, I picked up his copy of Philip Roth’s The Counterlife and—this is unbelievable—John Hawkes’ The Lime Twig, which was in the racks outside selling for A DOLLAR. So, got that too.

  61. Chris

      I got his copies of “The Unnameable” and “Watt.”

      Also Anscombe’s “Introduction to Wittgenstein.” The inside cover is marked “Markson – Mexico 1961.” He pasted a black-and-white photograph of Wittgenstein on the left side.

      His books are still floating around. All hardcovers minus jacket sleeves inscribed with his name and wherever he bought them.

  62. Pete Michael Smith

      A friend who works at the Strand bought all of Markson’s first edition Faulkner collection. Pretty serious stuff.

  63. Chris

      I got his copies of “The Unnameable” and “Watt.”

      Also Anscombe’s “Introduction to Wittgenstein.” The inside cover is marked “Markson – Mexico 1961.” He pasted a black-and-white photograph of Wittgenstein on the left side.

      His books are still floating around. All hardcovers minus jacket sleeves inscribed with his name and wherever he bought them.

  64. Ridge

      Yes, Mike, I share your sentiments on this one 100%. Your post two above hits the proverbial nail on the head.

  65. Ridge

      Yes, Mike, I share your sentiments on this one 100%. Your post two above hits the proverbial nail on the head.

  66. Ryan Call

      more from the comments section over at LRB blog (sorry, i didnt link individual comments, just scroll if you click over there):

      “What I’m thinking now is that the right thing to do is put Markson’s library back together. A friend suggests that we start a Facebook group; that might be the way to go.”

      “According to one of the staffers at the Strand, our man bequeathed his books to the august booksellers row institution. And so reconstituting his library, particularly at an academic institution, would not be in tune with his chosen legacy.”

      “Still, I’m of two minds: on the one hand, it’s pretty; scattered like ashes is just right. On the other, I wonder if it’s the sort of bequest that (pace Max Brod) shouldn’t have been ignored, or partially ignored, esp. given how important some of these books were to Markson’s own.”

      “The conjuring of a vision of Markson’s library languishing “in a vault somewhere in the middle of Texas,” because (as Fred Bass put it) “what are they going to do with them?” is kind of breathtakingly hostile towards scholarship generally, and ultimately toward Markson’s reputation…”

  67. Ryan Call

      more from the comments section over at LRB blog (sorry, i didnt link individual comments, just scroll if you click over there):

      “What I’m thinking now is that the right thing to do is put Markson’s library back together. A friend suggests that we start a Facebook group; that might be the way to go.”

      “According to one of the staffers at the Strand, our man bequeathed his books to the august booksellers row institution. And so reconstituting his library, particularly at an academic institution, would not be in tune with his chosen legacy.”

      “Still, I’m of two minds: on the one hand, it’s pretty; scattered like ashes is just right. On the other, I wonder if it’s the sort of bequest that (pace Max Brod) shouldn’t have been ignored, or partially ignored, esp. given how important some of these books were to Markson’s own.”

      “The conjuring of a vision of Markson’s library languishing “in a vault somewhere in the middle of Texas,” because (as Fred Bass put it) “what are they going to do with them?” is kind of breathtakingly hostile towards scholarship generally, and ultimately toward Markson’s reputation…”