David Markson
David Markson was an influential American author and literary figure born on December 20, 1927, in Albany, New York. He began his career as a writer while still in high school by contributing sports articles to the Albany Times-Union. After serving as a staff sergeant in the army, he pursued higher education at Union College and Columbia University, where he developed his critical analysis of Malcolm Lowry's "Under the Volcano." Markson's literary journey included teaching positions at various institutions, including Long Island University and Columbia University, alongside writing various forms of literature such as novels, screenplays, and poetry. His novel "Wittgenstein's Mistress" garnered significant acclaim for its innovative style and unique narrative techniques. Throughout his career, Markson received several awards, including a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Salon Book Award for "Reader's Block." Despite facing initial criticism for his early works, he ultimately achieved recognition for his literary contributions and experimentation with genres. Markson's legacy is marked by a profound influence on contemporary literature through his distinct voice and approach to writing.
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Subject Terms
David Markson
Fiction and Nonfiction Writer, Poet and Screenwriter
- Born: December 20, 1927
- Birthplace: Albany, New York
- Died: June 4, 2010
- Place of death: New York, New York
Biography
David Merrill Markson was born on December 20, 1927, in Albany, New York, the son of Samuel Albert Markson and Florence Stone Markson. His father worked at a newspaper and his mother taught school. Markson began contributing sports articles to the Albany Times-Union in 1944 and then served as a staff sergeant in the army between 1946 and 1948, writing for the Armed Forces Press Service in New York City. After being discharged, Markson enrolled at Union College in Schenectady, New York, receiving a B.A. in 1950.
Impressed by Malcolm Lowry’s book, Under the Volcano (1947), which he had read in college, Markson initiated a correspondence with Lowry. Markson completed an M.A. at Columbia University in 1952, writing a thesis analyzing Under the Volcano; his study was the first critical work examining Lowry’s novel. After graduation, Markson went to Molalla, Oregon, to work for the Weyerhauser Timber Company. In the summer of 1952, Markson interviewed Lowry at his home in British Columbia.
Markson returned to New York to work as an editor for Dell Books from 1953 to 1954 and at Lion Books from 1955 to 1956. He interviewed Lowry again in 1954, when Lowry visited New York City. Markson married literary agent Elaine Kretchmar on September 30, 1956, and they had one daughter and one son before they divorced in 1994.
Following in the footsteps of his mentor, Lowry, Markson lived in Mexico City, Mexico, from 1959 to 1961, when he was selected a fellow of Centro Mexicano de Escritores, a center for writers. Starting in 1964, Markson joined the English faculty as an assistant professor at Long Island University’s Brooklyn campus, teaching there for two years. The money he earned by selling the film rights to his novel, The Ballad of Dingus Magee, enabled Markson to reside in Europe, particularly in England, Spain, and Italy, for more than a year.
Markson taught creative writing workshops at Columbia University from 1979 to 1984 and from 1986 to 1987. In 1994, he taught at the New School for Social Research in New York City, resuming that position in 1997.
Markson began writing fiction in 1956, publishing his first novel, Epitaph for a Tramp, a detective story, three years later. He also wrote a screenplay, short stories, poetry, and literary criticism, revising his master’s thesis into the book Malcolm Lowry’s Volcano: Myth, Symbol, Meaning. Markson’s writing was published in major magazines, including Saturday Evening Post and The Village Voice.
Critics dismissed Markson’s early books as being too commercial, but they noted developing literary merit in his novels, particularly Wittgenstein’s Mistress, as Markson experimented with technique. Reviewers, including writer Kurt Vonnegut, praised Markson’s innovative style, unexpected depictions of such traditional genres as Westerns, and sophisticated allusions to literature. The National Endowment for the Arts awarded Markson a fellowship in 1990; in 1997, Markson received the Salon Book Award for Reader’s Block. The Summer, 1990, issue of The Review of Contemporary Fiction focused on Markson and his contributions to creative writing.