A Razor’s Edge Tribe Between Phoniness and Dishonesty

March 1, 2023 3:50 PM

In 1955, David Markson wrote a gushing fan letter to William Gaddis. In 1961, William Gaddis wrote back. [The Paris Review; ungated]

Gaddis' letter to Markson will be included in the upcoming revised edition of The Letters of William Gaddis.

posted by chavenet (6 comments total)

One of my favorite lit bloggers is also a Gaddis fan, and has recently included some excerpts from an edition of The Letters. Also, if you scroll enough, there's a review of Gravity's Rainbow that Gaddis annotated.
posted by OHenryPacey at 4:36 PM on March 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

although I must admit I’ve been known to scribble authors’ inscriptions in friends’ books—bibles only

Heh.

I've always been a fan of "Reader's Block" A book perhaps more relevant now than ever.
posted by gwint at 5:20 PM on March 1, 2023 [4 favorites]

If anyone wants to go deeper, the Gaddis Annotations site is worth a look.
posted by njohnson23 at 6:44 PM on March 1, 2023 [2 favorites]

Someday, someone is going to (finally) edit Markson's Notecard Tetralogy with the same scholarly attention that "Ulysses" gets. Line numbers in the margins for reference, footnotes at the bottom of every page that will far eclipse the work(s) themselves in word count, readers guides. It certainly warrants it, being the masterpiece is clearly is. I may not see it in my lifetime, but here's hoping...
posted by ShawnW at 8:18 PM on March 1, 2023 [3 favorites]

The Last Novelist: On David Markson's "Notecard Quartet"
Reading Markson Reading
posted by chavenet at 2:38 AM on March 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

New biblioklept post: First riff: The Letters of William Gaddis, “Growing Up, 1930–1946”
posted by chavenet at 7:29 AM on March 8, 2023 [1 favorite]