{"product_id":"readers-block-1","title":"Reader's Block","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBy David Markson\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePaperback:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9781628977127\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eeBook:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9781628977134\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e July 20th, 2027\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch5\u003eDescription\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe author of \u003cem\u003eWittgenstein’s Mistress\u003c\/em\u003e asks “What is a novel in any case?” and answers with a work both radically fragmented and hypnotically readable.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn aging author identified only as “Reader” contemplates the writing of a novel. As he does, other matters crowd his mind—literary and cultural anecdotes, endless quotations attributed and not, scholarly curiosities. We realize quickly that these are the residue of a lifetime’s reading, which is apparently all he has to show for his decades on earth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInnumerable details accumulate about madness and calamity in artists’ and writers’ lives, the ubiquitous critical affronts, the startling bigotry, the countless suicides. Out of these unlikely yet fascinating materials, David Markson has created a novel of extraordinary intellectual power: “Nonlinear. Discontinuous. Collage-like. An assemblage.” While shoring up Reader’s ruins with such fragments, Markson has also managed to electrify his novel with an almost unbearable emotional impact.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch5\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDavid Markson\u003c\/strong\u003e's novel \u003cem\u003eWittgenstein's Mistress\u003c\/em\u003e was acclaimed by David Foster Wallace as “pretty much the high point of experimental fiction in this country.” His other books, including \u003cem\u003eReader's Block\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSpringer's Progress\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eVanishing Point\u003c\/em\u003e, have expanded this high reputation. His novel \u003cem\u003eThe Ballad of Dingus Magee\u003c\/em\u003e was made into the film \u003cem\u003eDirty Dingus Magee\u003c\/em\u003e, which starred Frank Sinatra, and he is also the author of three crime novels. Born in Albany, New York, Markson lived in New York City until his death in 2010.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dalkey Archive Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":49327407071387,"sku":"9781628977127","price":18.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"eBook","offer_id":49327407104155,"sku":"9781628977134","price":18.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0594\/2915\/9067\/files\/DAP_CoverPlaceholderImage.jpg?v=1786994364","url":"https:\/\/dalkeyarchive.store\/products\/readers-block-1","provider":"Dalkey Archive Press","version":"1.0","type":"link"}