i can't really sing, so

David Markson New York Times obituary: here . --I've been waiting for this one. It's simple and earned and honest. James Yeh, a tribute on & to the late great writer: here . --in an unpretentious imitation of Markson's style, Yeh resurrects the spirit of his life and work in a small but concise piece on the author. A.D. Jameson on Markson: here . --this I found thru Yeh's piece, and I found it sly and even funny. Markson reading at Strand books: here . --where he was more comfortable browsing than speaking, but still told a good story even behind a microphone. What are the two best novels you've never heard of? find out here . --and then go read them. Crime fiction blogger weighs in on Markson with an emphasis on his earlier work: here . -- there is a list, too, at the bottom of her post of many things Markson related. If you don't find enough here, I recommend it. Scott Bryan Wilson calls Markson "a completely unfuckwithable writer": here . If you

June 5, 2010 :: elegy in essay form I found out this morning via Jim Behrle's facebook and then his twitter that David Markson has passed away. "David Markson has died." Behrle doesn't blither. Quick search on the web, and I've got nothing, but this makes sense to me. Markson, a giant of postmodernism-- if you're true to the word-- maintained closer friendships than he courted publicity. His life and work are intertwined, and his memory will live on in those he touched as well as in his works of art. Perhaps I find my method of discovery at his passing ironic considering Markson himself would have never found out about anything the way I did. He would tell me, visiting the poetry and literary non-fiction stacks of Strand Bookstore, how he still used a typewriter to write, wrote things down on notecards when planning his novels, only took calls on his landline and didn't feel he had any need for a cell phone or computer. It wasn't that he was against te