Apr 24 ’06
Sims — yeah!
Great review, the Mid-American thing!80 Did you send her a gushing let’s-be-friends-forever letter?
In Minneapolis, say hello to Eric Lorberer (Ed., Rain Taxi) — (never met — a few brief exchanges.)
For your mystery addiction81—Counterpoint are re-doing my two private eye novels82 (two in one volume), maybe late this year. But you’ll be in Japan, no? Too bad, kid.
Hey, love again—
D.
80 I sent him a copy of a good review of Practice, Restraint that had appeared in the Mid-American Review.
81 I was deep into novels by Henning Mankell, Patricia Highsmith, and Ruth Rendell at the time.
82 Epitaph for a Tramp and Epitaph for a Dead Beat, both highly entertaining and full of Markson-esque allusions.
June 5 ’06
Symso, gal—
Donno if I mentioned. Did I say that both of your contributions to my new masterpiece made the final cut?—
A. — Don’t do it, Rodya!83
B. — Catherine the Great dying in the royal W.C.84
There are, however, no footnoted citations of sources! And I have no acknowledgments page. But I thank you.
Love—
D.
83 “Amid the clutter of multilingual graffiti beside the door to the St. Petersburg garret that is alleged to be the one Dostoyevsky used as a model for Raskolnikov’s: Don’t do it, Rodya!” (23)
84 “Catherine the Great died after having suffered a stroke and fallen from a commode in the royal water closet.” (158)
July 14 ’06
Dear Simso-san—
Izzat right? What’s “san” mean? (Don’t tell me “sir.”)
This is the first letter/postcard I’ve sent to Japan since Doug MacArthur stopped writing to ask me advice.
A very important question. Why, when I wasn’t sure on which “Friday,” as you put it, you were leaving, and I phoned to say goodbye, did your cheery voice still respond on the machine — as it still does today, July 14, when on impulse, I dialed again? I am not inventing that. Will your “please leave a message” go on for all your sojourn?
Meantime I hope it’s all gratifying for you both. My own attitude re Japan echoes Philip Larkin’s re your nearby neighbor: “I’d love to visit China, if I could come back the same night.” (Maybe he said “same day.”)85
News, news, do I have any news? The MRI they scared the shit out of me by making me take for my brain did not show a brain tumor (they did not mention whether it showed a brain.) An attractive middle-aged good novelist has proclaimed a desperate crush on me. Temperatures in New York are currently averaging 90+ daily. Tell me your evaluation of Anne Carson. Have you ever read Joanna Scott? What did Materazzi actually say to Zinedine Zidane?86 Why is Palleau’s book now long accepted87 and there is no word re Sims’ essay? Did I tell you about the other young French gal who writes me mash notes? Why, why do I have to be 78—which means halfway through my 79th year? Is there no way to transport every central figure of the Bush administration to Guantanamo in place of 95 % of the people there now? Can we ship Scalia, Thomas, Alito, Roberts, along with them? When you come home, will you stop by & put my message on my answering machine with your energetic cheerful voice for me?
I am desperately trying to start a new book.88
Love — and to Corey—
David
All of which shows how busy I am between books!
85 He did.
86 Refers to a heated exchange that took place between two players during the finals of the 2006 World Cup.
87 Her book, originally Ceci n’est pas une tragédie: L’ecriture de David Markson (ENS Editions) that would be published in the States as This Is Not a Tragedy (Dalkey Archive Press, 2011).
88 One that, he’d told me, he wanted to be structurally and stylistically different from the last four books.
July 26 ’06
Simso — Love—
What sort of dummy includes an extra blank sheet in a letter?89
No, it is not Joanna Scott.90 She once worked in my ex-wife/ agent’s91 office, and wrote me a lovely (more than lovely) letter re my work more recently, & I finally got around to reading her, which is why I asked your reaction (mine=great prose) — but the one who says she is “besotted” with me is someone else (also good). What is this madness, regarding someone who is exactly (let me calculate), yes, one year, four months, & 25 days short of his 80th birthday! Women are mad (deliciously so, but mad).
Another Country Heard From92—great — except if it is all Japan — then, NO. Too real, precise, etc.
I’m glad things seem good — i.e., that your time is your own. There is nothing wrong in using much of it to just sit and stare. And daydream. (Or, even, to recall America from afar.)
Forgive the scrawl, eh? Again, the humidity is dense enough to swim through. Forgive the prose also, as bad as “the sea that continues endlessly widely.” Worse. It is 4:00 p.m. and I am lately half-asleep at this hour. (Even only five years ago I would have revised/rewritten this.)
Yes, the last book all signed, etc. Title: The Last Novel. But not scheduled until next spring — probably late spring. I did say my two old private eye things (in one volume) will be out in November, no? Not sure I’m happy re same.
Hey, end of fancy page.
Much love, & to Corey—
D.
89 David’s letter is written on that “blank sheet”—it came from a typical Japanese letter set, which contains paper, envelopes and stickers, all in a matching cute design. On this one is the phrase: “I want the heart and the strength which became clear like this beautiful sea that continues endlessly widely,” along with a picture of a smiling cloud saying: “Hello!!”
90 I was guessing who the “attractive middle-aged good novelist” he’d mentioned as having a crush on him was.
91 Elaine Markson.
92 A title I was contemplating for my second book, which would ultimately be called Stranger.
Aug 9 ’06
Simsy—
Carole Maso I used to know a little, some years back. She’s gay. Indeed, last I knew, she and her partner had a baby.
Joy Williams, very attractive, I met once. She is (was?) married to the ex-Esquire fiction editor Rust Hills. I think they live in Key West.
Lynne Tillman I never met, never read.
Mona Simpson, likewise.
Christine Schutt — never even heard of.
I’ll tell you the truth. It’s Emily Brontë.
Lissen, the whole thing is absurd. I’ve not seen you enough to have probably mentioned same, but A., I have prostate cancer, and B., the treatment for same blocks testosterone — meaning I ain’t got no sex life! (Whether I’d have one at 78 in any case is beside the point.) But all I can do about this besotted lass is sigh wearily and daydream of the past. I am inordinately fond of — indeed, cherish — my editor, too, who is in fact younger than the novelist, recently divorced, now in New York. And tomorrow or the next day a 22-year-old kid, working on my books, is due to stop by. And there’s Sims, nagging me for a name — when I’m debating which monastery to enter.
I don’t know what became of the Japanese edition.93 I was sent my few bucks long ago. Usually books eventually arrive. Though it’s all sort of meaningless when I can’t make sense of them anyhow. I remember tossing out several never-opened Norwegian copies of something, the last time I sold books. They are probably still on some bottom shelf at the Strand.94