Fare Forward: Letters from David Markson

July 14 ’06

Dear Simso-san—

Izzat right? What’s “san” mean? (Don’t tell me “sir.”)

This is the first letter/postcard I’ve sent to Japan since Doug MacArthur stopped writing to ask me advice.

A very important question. Why, when I wasn’t sure on which “Friday,” as you put it, you were leaving, and I phoned to say goodbye, did your cheery voice still respond on the machine — as it still does today, July 14, when on impulse, I dialed again? I am not inventing that. Will your “please leave a message” go on for all your sojourn?

Meantime I hope it’s all gratifying for you both. My own attitude re Japan echoes Philip Larkin’s re your nearby neighbor: “I’d love to visit China, if I could come back the same night.” (Maybe he said “same day.”)⁸⁵

News, news, do I have any news? The MRI they scared the shit out of me by making me take for my brain did not show a brain tumor (they did not mention whether it showed a brain.) An attractive middle-aged good novelist has proclaimed a desperate crush on me. Temperatures in New York are currently averaging 90+ daily. Tell me your evaluation of Anne Carson. Have you ever read Joanna Scott? What did Materazzi actually say to Zinedine Zidane?⁸⁶ Why is Palleau’s book now long accepted⁸⁷ and there is no word re Sims’ essay? Did I tell you about the other young French gal who writes me mash notes? Why, why do I have to be 78—which means halfway through my 79^th year? Is there no way to transport every central figure of the Bush administration to Guantanamo in place of 95 % of the people there now? Can we ship Scalia, Thomas, Alito, Roberts, along with them? When you come home, will you stop by & put my message on my answering machine with your energetic cheerful voice for me?

I am desperately trying to start a new book.⁸⁸

Love — and to Corey—

David

All of which shows how busy I am between books!

85 He did.

86 Refers to a heated exchange that took place between two players during the finals of the 2006 World Cup.

87 Her book, originally Ceci n’est pas une tragédie: L’ecriture de David Markson (ENS Editions) that would be published in the States as This Is Not a Tragedy (Dalkey Archive Press, 2011).

88 One that, he’d told me, he wanted to be structurally and stylistically different from the last four books.