Fare Forward: Letters from David Markson

July 25 ’04

Simsy—

I have just written nine different drafts — nine — of a roughly 25-word paragraph ending with Don’t do it, Rodya!⁴¹Still not right, but now a tentative index card in my shoebox tops.⁴² What with Catherine the Great’s commode in there already, you may write my entire next novel!

Thine—

D.

41 The phrase from the graffiti I’d found outside Raskolnikov’s apartment.

42 David composed his last four novels by writing notes on index cards, then filing the cards in shoebox tops, editing the individual notes until he was satisfied, and finally, rearranging the cards until finding the right order. He speaks of this in greater detail during the interview we did for Rain Taxi, page 123.