Critically acclaimed novelist David Markson strings together anecdotes about other writers and artists in this minimalist masterpiece.

In recent novels, which have been called "hypnotic," "stunning," and "exhilarating," David Markson has created his own personal genre. In this new work, The Last Novel, an elderly author (referred to only as "Novelist") announces that since this will be his final effort, he has "carte blanche to do anything he damned well pleases."

Pressed by solitude and age, Novelist's preoccupations inevitably turn to the stories of other artists — their genius, their lack of recognition, and their deaths. Keeping his personal history out of the story as much as possible, Novelist creates an incantatory stream of fascinating triumphs and failures from the lives of famous and not-so-famous painters, writers, musicians, sports figures, and scientists.

As Novelist moves through his last years, a minimalist self-portrait emerges, becoming an intricate masterpiece from David Markson's astonishing imagination. Through these startling, sometimes comic, but often tragic anecdotes we unexpectedly discern the entire shape of a man's life.

"The latest engaging, indefinable work from Markson (Vanishing Point) proves to be something between a writers commonplace book and La Rochefoucaulds satirically aphoristic Maxims. A set of absorbing factoids and musingsfrom and about a variety of literary and historical notablescomprise his narrators last novel. With a delight in experimentation, Markson manages to insinuate a sober narrative voice between and among the words of the greats. After a quote from Eugene V. Debs (Nobody can be nobody) comes a telling moment of clarification about his own texts aim: Novelists personal genre. For all its seeming fragmentation, nonetheless obstinately cross-referenced and of cryptic interconnectivity syntax. Indeed, the quotations, separated by a poetic amount of white space, read smoothly one after the other. Most are only a few lines long, and they range from bons mots by famous writers (Rousseau: The man who eats in idleness what he has not earned is a thief) to the writerly non sequitur (Napoleon was five feet six inches tall). Old age, defeat and death emerge as leitmotifs, underscored by statements of the places and dates of various authors deaths, and, slowly, of the narrators own poverty and loneliness. Marksons dark fragments are, paradoxically, a joy to sift and ponder." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"'The latest engaging, indefinable work from Markson (Vanishing Point) proves to be something between a writer's commonplace book and La Rochefoucauld's satirically aphoristic Maxims. A set of absorbing factoids and musings — from and about a variety of literary and historical notables — comprise his narrator's 'last novel.' With a delight in experimentation, Markson manages to insinuate a sober narrative voice between and among the words of the greats. After a quote from Eugene V. Debs ('Nobody can be nobody') comes a telling moment of clarification about his own text's aim: 'Novelist's personal genre. For all its seeming fragmentation, nonetheless obstinately cross-referenced and of cryptic interconnectivity syntax.' Indeed, the quotations, separated by a poetic amount of white space, read smoothly one after the other. Most are only a few lines long, and they range from bons mots by famous writers (Rousseau: 'The man who eats in idleness what he has not earned is a thief') to the writerly non sequitur ('Napoleon was five feet six inches tall'). Old age, defeat and death emerge as leitmotifs, underscored by statements of the places and dates of various authors' deaths, and, slowly, of the narrator's own poverty and loneliness. Markson's dark fragments are, paradoxically, a joy to sift and ponder.' Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Most people won't get this highly experimental work." Library Journal

"There's a lulling beauty here — and a crackling wit, too — but readers will have to ask themselves: Does the end of this 'seminonfictional semifiction' justify the means?" Booklist

David Markson lives in New York City. Among the many who have raved about his works are Kurt Vonnegut, Ann Beattie, David Foster Wallace, William Kennedy, Joanna Scott, Gilbert Sorrentino, Rikki Ducornet, Amy Hempel, Sven Birkets, and Michael Dirda.