ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to assert the collage structure of David Markson’s last four works – from Reader’s Block (1996) to The Last Novel (2007) – and to examine their representation of the novel in crisis. After introducing the author and his novelistic cycle, it investigates Markson’s unique method of composition and his reliance on parataxis, appropriation and fragmentation. In the analysis of the relations between consecutive components of the text, the chapter draws on Rhetorical Structure Theory. It then considers several of the quartet’s recurrent themes, focusing primarily on advancing senility and the crisis of art. Finally, it proposes a reading of Markson’s cycle, particularly the second book in the series, as a manifesto for a new form of writing – a manifesto which is collage-like in its structure and which advocates collage as an artistic strategy.
