Vanishing Point : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: what's left after cant
Review: Its true. Reading Markson is like a validation of one's education. The reader encounters the known and the faintly known in precise, almost monadic, moments. There is a sly narrative behind all this but it's a non-event- the real stuff is the telling anecdote, the revealing humaness and culpability of the living and their witnesses: artists themselves. Everything pushes towards annihilation, except pleasure. This book is a one of many.

Rating:
Summary: what's left after cant
Review: Its true. Reading Markson is like a validation of one's education. The reader encounters the known and the faintly known in precise, almost monadic, moments. There is a sly narrative behind all this but it's a non-event- the real stuff is the telling anecdote, the revealing humaness and culpability of the living and their witnesses: artists themselves. Everything pushes towards annihilation, except pleasure. This book is a one of many.

Rating:
Summary: Literate and Highly Original
Review: Markson has created something wonderful in his latest work. The idea of an elderly author gathering up all these little tidbits in order to compose what may turn out to be his last work IS the novel. What a great idea. Markson's originality ranks right up there with the works of Beckett and Gaddis. There are many great references re Einstein, Picasso, Fitzgerald, Dickens, Sophocles. Aristotle, Galileo, Hitler, and even 9-11. He also shows the utter personal idiocy of Heideger and Wagner, their brilliant artistry notwithstanding. Never has someone taken so many disparate items and yet synthesized them into a unified, cohesive sequence of thought. This is what great writing is all about.

Rating:
Summary: Literate and Highly Original
Review: Markson has created something wonderful in his latest work. The idea of an elderly author gathering up all these little tidbits in order to compose what may turn out to be his last work IS the novel. What a great idea. Markson's originality ranks right up there with the works of Beckett and Gaddis. There are many great references re Einstein, Picasso, Fitzgerald, Dickens, Sophocles. Aristotle, Galileo, Hitler, and even 9-11. He also shows the utter personal idiocy of Heideger and Wagner, their brilliant artistry notwithstanding. Never has someone taken so many disparate items and yet synthesized them into a unified, cohesive sequence of thought. This is what great writing is all about.

Rating:
Summary: fantastic concatenation
Review: With "Vanishing Point," the amazing David Markson lifts himself from cult status to author of what should be a popular instant classic. This mysterious and awe-inspiring examination of a dying writer is a worthy companion to Joyce, Genet and Beckett. Its "Waiting for Godot" quality is invigorated by courage and introspection, its contantly renewed variety educates and deepens with each reading.

Rating:
Summary: Cult to Classic
Review: With "Vanishing Point," the amazing David Markson lifts himself from cult status to author of what should be a popular instant classic. This mysterious and awe-inspiring examination of a dying writer is a worthy companion to Joyce, Genet and Beckett. Its "Waiting for Godot" quality is invigorated by courage and introspection, its contantly renewed variety educates and deepens with each reading.