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Reader's Block

by David Markson

4.10 · rating details · 357 ratings · 48 reviews

In this spellbinding, utterly unconventional fiction, an aging author who is identified only as Reader contemplates the writing of a novel. As he does, other matters insistently crowd his mind—literary and cultural anecdotes, endless quotations attributed and not,
scholarly curiosities—the residue of a lifetime's reading which is apparently all he has to show for his decade

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Paperback, 194 pages

Published March 14th 1996 by Dalkey Archive Press

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Jun 08, 2010

Jesse rated it

A kind of elegant, twisted mystery with no conclusion for the reader to solve--it's not a story or even a narrative per se as much as the straightforward listing of the "notes" of an otherwise nameless Reader, which consist of countless factoids and anecdotes and quotes as well as jottings of what is presumably to be an outline of a novel Reader is working on. But what initially seems to be completely disparate musings (which I found interesting enough simply on that level) slowly beg...more

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Jul 30, 2010

Shane rated it

I was rather harsh on David Markson on reading his last book Springer’s Progress, but this time I was engrossed in yet another experimental novel of his: Reader’s Block. Reader, in this case, is the writer, suffering from the dreaded “Block”. We get glimpses of him as someone who has suffered losses of friends and family, of health and livelihood, and is all alone trying to write this novel.

Reader is distracted from developing his plot and characters by the random thoughts and trivia...moreI was rather harsh on David Markson on reading his last book Springer’s Progress, but this time I was engrossed in yet another experimental novel of his: Reader’s Block. Reader, in this case, is the writer, suffering from the dreaded “Block”. We get glimpses of him as someone who has suffered losses of friends and family, of health and livelihood, and is all alone trying to write this novel.

Reader is distracted from developing his plot and characters by the random thoughts and trivia of all the books he has read over his lifetime. These one-liners drift in an out of Reader’s emerging novel, and they form the most interesting part of the book, at least for me. Did you know that Isaac Newton died a virgin, or that Thomas Hardy sold less than 20 copies each of his first three books, or that Virginia Woolf dismissed Ulysses as “an illiterate and underbred novel”, and Voltaire condemned the works of Shakespeare as a “dungheap”, that Nietzsche paid to publish Thus Spake Zarathusthra that went on to sell all of 40 copies—the list of trivia goes on...It is the most heartening collection of notes for struggling writers who feel alone and unappreciated—“You are not alone,” Reader seems to say,” others, great ones, have suffered this mortal coil too.”

Woven in between the vignettes is a record of painters, poets, musicians, and writers who committed suicide throughout history and of the artists – Jews and Gentiles alike – who in Reader’s opinion were anti-Semitic. These ominous signs foreshadow where Reader is heading with his novel.

Reader’s principal character, aptly called Protagonist, is a reflection of himself, sick and alone, who finds himself in two simultaneous scenes that he can’t seem to exit from: in a graveyard where he encounters a woman beside a grave, and in a house by the sea (which has a boarded cellar piled with boxes) where, while walking along the beach, he follows another woman. This is the extent of his novel, which ends like his life, as identifiable as his trivia selection—non-linear, discontinuous, collage-like, an assemblage—in the wastebasket.

Initially, I wondered if one took out all the trivia, was there was really a novel here? Protagonist’s story only amounts to about half a dozen pages. So then, does one reward the author for the elaborately compiled collection of trivia (in an era prior to Google and other search engines)? Is there a code in the arrangement of these facts (Wikipedia seems to concur with their veracity)? Is this a lament to the futility of the artist’s life while he is alive? All the troubled and eccentric real-life people mentioned in the trivia became giants in their respective fields, especially after their deaths, although their lives were far from pleasant. Certainly much food for thought and fuel to continue the painful journey that is the life of the creative artist, although I would hate to end up in the wastebasket for all my effort!

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May 02, 2011

Michael Dworaczyk rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. ***Spoilers***
When it comes to experimental fiction, no one outshines David Markson. David Foster Wallace revered him, and in a 1999 article for Salon.com, said of Markson's “Wittgenstein's Mistress:” a novel this abstract and erudite and avant-garde that could also be so moving makes "Wittgenstein's Mistress" pretty much the high point of experimental fiction in this country.

Much the same could be said of “Reader's Block,” written eight years later, as well. It...more

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Oct 03, 2009

T Fool rated it

Shelves: reviewed-books

Reader’s Block, thematically, stylistically, twins Vanishing Point, though it precedes that other Markson book by eight years. An older sibling, really, with many family traits. Rather than accusing it of executing by formula, we have to praise it. So referential are the fragments, they set up an intrigue – what is a reader to do in piecing it all together?

We enjoyed doing it in VP, and once again the action wobbles around a book project in-the-making. Instead of VPs Writer, he...more

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Dec 11, 2010

MJ Nicholls rated it

Shelves: novels, dalkey-archive, canadamericans, tortured-artists

A novel of literary trivia. Markson's knowledge of biographical curios is far and wide, far beyond his desire to tell his own stories, so he uses this richness of detail to weave an unconventional narrative. The trivia is interrupted by an attempt by Reader to create his Protagonist, who gets swallowed up in a bog of anti-semitic and suicidal writers. The story is never told: the idea is the anecdotes tell the story. (Though precisely what that is is beyond me. The tone is one of oppression and ...more

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Feb 26, 2011

Scarlett Sims rated it

Shelves: leisure, post-modern

I picked this up from a display at Powell's because I was looking for something kinda post-modern and self-referential and this seemed like a good bet.

I think it will definitely merit a second reading, because I didn't take the time to locate all of the allusions and references, merely appreciating the ones I did recognize.

It's kinda hard to describe this book--the narrative takes an interesting form and I feel like you shouldn't try to read it if you aren't into things like ...more

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Dec 20, 2011

Eric T. Voigt rated it

Shelves: winter-eleven-twelve

A very enjoyable read, but am I going to remember it? I think I'll remember select lines, and the gist of the structure, and how it caught me off guard in the beginning to mellow away into simply being a nice, unsurprising and curiously long read. I like it, but with so little original writing in it I feel a little like I read an annotated encyclopedia. Which maybe it's supposed to be? On to "High Lonesome" by Barry Hannah, which I think is going to rile me up. And "Correction"...more

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Jun 03, 2010

Jcshumate rated it

One of the more revelatory reading experiences I've had in recent memory. Of course, I gather that this is in fact one of Markson's lesser novels, so I anxiously await tearing into This is Not a Novel or Wittgenstein's Mistress.

Reader's Block exists in stark defiance. It upends and eviscerates. It's also funny and eulogistic.

Also, despite what even some rather vocal supporters of Markson's style might say: Reader's Block features some of the richest, most expansive...more

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Sep 25, 2010

Matt rated it

This is the first Markson I've read, after reading his obits and being intrigued. This is a collection of small fragments that, though this book was published in 1996, read like nothing so much as erudite tweets on a couple different subjects.

The mainline of the book are those fragments in which "Reader" tries to tell the story of "Protagnist," a character in a novel he intends to write. This is maybe the thread most openly indebted to Beckett, who really does lur...moreThis is the first Markson I've read, after reading his obits and being intrigued. This is a collection of small fragments that, though this book was published in 1996, read like nothing so much as erudite tweets on a couple different subjects.

The mainline of the book are those fragments in which "Reader" tries to tell the story of "Protagnist," a character in a novel he intends to write. This is maybe the thread most openly indebted to Beckett, who really does lurk in the corners of this book, as "reader" tries and abandons different possible ideas for "Protagonist," all part of a long process of letting go.

Along the way, and maybe serving as the readable remnants of what is let go, there are other types of fragments, mostly literary-trivial-- so we learn Eliot rejected _Animal Farm_ when he was a reader for Faber and Faber, or that someone, Markson or "Reader," thinks Shakespeare had more than a little Latin (contra Ben Jonson). These fragments are maybe the most interesting, bearing as they do on the inner life of the writer, or something like it, all these stray ideas, of which, the novel at hand seems to be saying, novels like this are assembled. Or something like that- it's hard to reconstruct, exactly, what they are doing, but it's certainly an impressive tour of possibilities.

There are two threads that I found kind of strange, and for me, unresolved-- there're those that simply say, "Such and such was anti-semitic," sometimes with additional notes, but often without. The language suggests that the writerly voice finds this a criticism, and his reflections on writers like Celan who suffered as a result of the holocaust seem to bear that out, though only tenuously. But beyond that, this sort of muted condemnation of anti-semitism, I was unsure what to do with that information, how to make it cohere into what was being said about the luminaries who earned that charge....

Similarly, there are lots of fragments about women, both the proper names of women in "Reader"'s life (or so we are to assume) and of literary characters who "Reader" has, ostensibly, fallen in love with. I suppose as a train of thought it's interesting, and blending the two has a purpose, at least of rendering the women "Reader" loved as literary figures. But if there's an ambition larger than that, I couldn't recognize it.

A good book, a formally challenging project, as reader and writer. But I'm not sure I totally understand what it was building toward, if it was building toward something. And if it wasn't, how did "Reader," or Markson, or us, know that we're at the end?(less)

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Apr 07, 2009

Rachel rated it

Markson's Reader's Block is a novel composed entirely of pieces that would usually be left on the cutting room floor (or, in Markson's terms, "Wastebasket"). Much like John Cage's 4'33" ("four minutes, thirty-three seconds"), a piece of music composed entirely of rests, Reader's Block works with negative representation to compose, from elements that are not a novel, a self-referential novelistic story.

The levels of metanarrative are really quite complex. Read...moreMarkson's Reader's Block is a novel composed entirely of pieces that would usually be left on the cutting room floor (or, in Markson's terms, "Wastebasket"). Much like John Cage's 4'33" ("four minutes, thirty-three seconds"), a piece of music composed entirely of rests, Reader's Block works with negative representation to compose, from elements that are not a novel, a self-referential novelistic story.

The levels of metanarrative are really quite complex. Reader, the protagonist of Markson's story, is trying to write a story about Protagonist, but running into the same sort of roadblocks we can imagine Markson himself, literary savant as he is, encountering in his own writing process. Protagonist's story takes shape through his interaction with authors (mostly dead), just as Reader's story takes shape through his memories of interactions with authors (through their books), just as Markson's story takes shape through his use of the words of other authors, just as the real-life reader's story experience takes shape through his/her recognition of and interaction with these different quoted and referenced authors.

By the end, the real-life reader comes away from the novel with a sense of having been told a tale. We learn something about Reader and his life aspirations and fears, and can make inferences about his background based on his body of knowledge and the questions he asks. Reader's Block is almost a detective story in that sense, causing the reader to pause again and again to try to draw connections and build a story from scattered pieces of a puzzle. How much can we ever really know about the characters of whom we read? It is all based on guesswork anyhow, and on the connections we draw based on our own experiences, knowledge, and past.

Some of Markson's literary allusions are more apt than others. While all seem carefully situated in order to express a logical progression through Reader's mental ramblings, some allusions, taken out of context or perhaps inaccurate altogether, may represent errors in judgment on the part of Reader or perhaps on the part of Markson himself. (One can't really be sure to just what extent this is indeed an autobiographical text.) For example, Reader, possibly Jewish, seems stricken by the number of artists who were anti-Semitic, and repeats often "X was an anti-Semite." But Markson/Reader never offers the full story of why any one of these individuals was considered an anti-Semite, and some, including Chaucer, may only have treated Jews in an unfavorable light within their art, without actually espousing those unfavorable views themselves.

On the other hand, perhaps the inaccuracy is intentional, and meant to indicate the critical side of the reading experience -- we each approach subjects of interest to us from the perspective of our own unique prejudices. Reader has a lot to say about literary criticism, and none of it seems favorable. Literary criticism seems just one of the stultifying influences preventing Reader's intended success as a writer; others addressed are some of the more negative trends among "successful artists," including suicides, odd deaths, incests, and January-May marriages. With the threat of such happenstances looming on the horizon of the successful artist, is there really any call to strive for literary success?

Markson's story, then, is aptly named. Reader's Block may indeed represent the block any creative soul experiences when faced with the challenge and danger of creation. Nothing is asserted, but only ever suggested, leading each reader to draw his/her own conclusion about the meaning and exigence of the creative experience. Overall, a fascinating read, and ever more so if the reader is able to engage with the myriad literary and artistic allusions.(less)

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Nov 14, 2010

Jeff Jackson rated it

"Markson's panorama is that of the world of books and of tiny mosaics of historical fact. Though poignantly hinting at deep personal anguish as the organizing principal behind this miniaturist encyclopedia of bits and pieces, this amazing novel evokes all books and all lists and the powerful human lust for inclusiveness. It's as if he's saying, "read this book and know everything worth knowing." But the only thing left out is ... everything else -- which howls at the center of thi...more

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Jul 12, 2007

Mike rated it

Someone once said something along these lines:

"Make someone think they think, and they will love you forever. Make someone actually think, and they will hate your forever."

In other words - if you complement someone's intelligence, they will feel good about themselves and hold you in good standing for the complement. But, if you ask that same person to actually draw upon their supposed intelligence, they will likely feel resentment towards you for putting them ...more

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Oct 16, 2011

Blayne M rated it

Shelves: fiction

Odd, fascinating, heartbreaking. I wrote a paper on this book for a linguistics class I took a number of years back. I only wish google had existed back then, as I'm sure I missed a large percentage of the literary references. For months after reading this, I had a strong urge to track down the author and bring him some soup and ask if he was okay.

I was very sad to discover, just now in seeing his bio here, that Markson died last year.

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Dec 12, 2011

Sean Pagaduan added it

The book pretty much demonstrates most of what postmodernism is, how postmodernism works, and why postmodernism is a valid way of looking at or critiquing the world.

It would seem weird to give this book a rating, for some reason. I enjoyed it, more than I thought I would, but I don't know how to judge whether or not it's good.

Do yourself a favor and read the first two pages of it. If you like it, pick it up. If not, put it down.

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Feb 25, 2009

Janet rated it

I've read several David Marksons now but this is my favorite. Formally interesting--it works on a musical principle, told in discrete single sentences or two or three, and gradually, you gain a picture of what is going on, like motivic musical work a la Beethoven. Love this book.

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Aug 18, 2011

S.B. Almendinger rated it

Recommends it for: people with short attention spans

Recommended to S.B. by: one of dfw's influences

I like that you can open this book up at any page and begin reading without having to really remember anything on the preceding pages.

This is just the book to give your sister, if she's a loud, dirty, boozy girl.

(Not really)

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Apr 02, 2010

Catherine rated it

Bertrand Russell, re having contemplated suicide at sixteen:
I did not, however, commit suicide, because I wished to know more about mathematics.

-David Markson, Reader's Block

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Mar 17, 2008

Terri rated it

This was a unique type of book. The gyst is the Reader is trying to come up with a story for a book, and his mind juts about all over the place full of interesting trivia and ideas in the process.

I wanted to love it for the original concept. And a lot of the facts thrwn in were fascinating but many seemed repetitive. My biggest preoblem ws that VERY little about the Protagonist or story was there and I felt like that should have been a bigger portion of the story. Development ami...more

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Jun 29, 2011

Mark rated it

Shelves: stories, poetry, novels

Just going to note an ironic sting in this book; the more references you get, the more the book is going to "apply" to you, I feel.

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May 15, 2009

Traci rated it

This book is chock full of answers to Jeopardy questions. Stun your friends with your useless literary knowledge!

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Jan 29, 2011

Jeff Bursey rated it

Great writing, on a deep topic, in such a fiendishly delicate manner. Markson was a genius at this.

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Mar 10, 2009

unnarrator marked it as to-read

Because of Zadie:

http://emdashes.com/2009/03/syllabus-col...

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Dec 03, 2011

Pete Monica rated it

There is exactly one line in this book that I did not care for.

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Aug 30, 2010

Rosebanana rated it

A good read for people who enjoy trivia.

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Jan 01, 2009

Damndirtypandas added it

Reader's Block by David Markson (2001)

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Jun 20, 2010

Bria rated it

Ha ha! You didn't expect Wikipedia to happen, did you, Markson?

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Oct 09, 2007

Prooost Davis rated it

Don't let the term "modernist novel" scare you. This "novel" amounts to a collection of really fun facts that an author with writer's block might collect while pretending to try to write a novel.

Stuff like:

"Tolstoy's wife copied out the entire manuscript of 'War and Peace' in longhand seven times."

"Byron was nine when he was introduced to sex by his nurse, one May Gray."

I dare you to put it down.

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Jan 02, 2010

Suzanne rated it

A strange book. The auther is trying to plan what he'll write, while including lots of literary facts. Some of those facts are depressing, some they listing all the authors who were anti-Semitic, or who committed suicide and how. Yet, ti's strangely addicting.

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May 29, 2008

Matt rated it

This experimental writing has one sentance paragraphs throughout giving odd writing and artistic facts, and a little info of a writer trying to figure out a story. Basically this by so many odd facts shows the struggle of artistically inclined people and their suicides and odd lives.
Anyone artistically inclined with music, writing, or art would find this book powerful.

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Sep 28, 2009

Amanda rated it

Shelves: fall-2009-semester

This book made me want to keep looking up everyone mentioned and do some research. I've never been so inspired by another book to go pick up MORE books than this book. I want to run out and pick up every biography I can. I'm intrigued by the lives of these artists. I loved the book. I'll have to read it again to gather some names for future reading.

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About David Markson

David Markson was an American novelist, born David Merrill Markson in Albany, New York. He is the author of several postmodern novels, including This is Not a Novel, Springer's Progress, and Wittgenstein's Mistress. His most recent work, The Last Novel, was published in 2007 and received a positive review in the New York Times, which called it "a real tour de force."

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