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. "Is there one major Dostoevsky novel in which no one commits suicide?" "Lenin played tennis." These trivia bits and much more fill the pages of Markson's latest experimental work, a hybrid novel and fun-fact compendium that will have many rushing for their Bartlett's and others clutching their skulls in despair. There is an aged protagonist named Novelist who periodically pops up among the anecdotes and quotations, often to comment wearily on his depression, and Markson uses this sort-of character to create a sort of tension--who is Novelist, and why is he or she obsessed with gossip, coincidences, facetiae, and death? Literary sleuths might find satisfaction in Markson's sporadic clues, but some will find that the book too closely resembles a cleverly sequenced quote-a-day desk calendar. Most intriguing (and problematic) is Markson/Novelist's tendency to anticipate reader complaints, a tactic that could engage fans of meta-lit but aggravate those tired of blog-style self-consciousness. 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? Daniel Krause Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "A cultural history of the Western world cast as a bricolage of decontextualized anecdotes, quotations, and facts . . . A lifetime's reading boiled down to sentences that have the terse clarity of epitaphs." -- James Gibbons "Jester cousin to Pound's Cantos--notations that gradually cohere in an underlying progress, a drift toward the momentary reconciliation of art, intellect, and mortality." "This is a novel of a thousand voices at their most concise, outrageous and most telling, indefatigably conceived and executed with a learned sparkle. It stands out as a daring tour de force (yet again), just the kind of novel only Markson would take on and do with such uncompromising elan." -- Paul West David Markson is the author of five novels, including Springer's Progress , Wittgenstein's Mistress , and Reader's Block . He is the recipient of several awards and fellowships, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a Salon Book Award. He lives in New York City. Used Book in Good Condition