Thoughts :: Archive
Going Down
Originally published May 12, 2006
This post was going to be about David Markson's Going Down. I found this recently in Unity Books. First published in 1970, Shoemaker & Hoard inexplicably decided to reprint it last year and a copy found its way to Wellington.
I say inexplicably not because it is a novel undeserving of a reprint (after thirty-five years) but because it is, like all most of Markson's work, a demanding read and it is mystifying to think why S&H thought there would be a commercial proposition in the reprint.
Perhaps they thought that it was important for writing of this caliber to remain in print? Jesus, that would be something of a novelty in today's publishing environment. Anyway, this is a novel that should remain in print - as should the rest of Markson's novels.
This felicitous find in Wellington, when previously I had to order novels like this from Abebooks or Amazon, got me thinking about bookshops and the quality thereof. And I realized what was so pleasurable about this discovery was that I hadn't realized that Unity was such a good bookshop; one that would stock work of this quality.
How had I got it wrong? Simple. When I first had a look around in there three-and-a-bit years ago, I applied my standard method of assessment, which works like this. Scan the shelves of the fiction section and check for the presence of the following novels or authors. Generally, I only need to go mid-way through the alphabet to get a steer on what sort of fare they have on offer. One or two matches indicates, in most cases, that the person doing the orders is reasonably well read and is making a bit of an effort. Two to three matches and you are in a bookstore that sells literature. Anything above that and you are probably in New York.
A
Starting from the A's (and if they are not alphabetized, I just leave. Right then, walk out), I look for Walter Abish. Anything by Abish is good, but particularly the short fiction: if they have Alphabetical Africa or In the Future Perfect then I start to get that tingle.
B
One author. One novel. Djuna Barnes' Nightwood. If they don't have this novel on the shelf, then I pretty much lose hope for anything beyond the B's. This is a novel that any self-respecting bookshop should stock.
As a fallback, they should have Murray Bail. Not Eucalyptus which, I hasten to add, is a fine novel, but I look for his first book, Homesickness; one of the great Australian novels.
E
Stanley Elkin. Anything by Stanley. The man's prose puts most poets to shame. Open a book of his at random, read a sentence and just marvel at the control, the metre, the exquisite imagery. If you can find one, that is.
G
Crunch time. If there is no Gaddis on the shelf, then this bookshop will remain just another outlet for pulped pine trees. If there is a Gaddis, then it is usually Carpenter's Gothic, which is -not coincidentally- his shortest work. Penguin reissued The Recognitions and JR ten years ago, so occasionally you will see one of those floating around.
Incidentally, if they do and you find my card in the last 100 pages of The Recognitions, please let me know. I left four of them in copies at Ariel in Sydney and have been hoping to hear from those readers ever since...
H
John Hawkes. Again, anything by Hawkes but, if you want to read him when he was positively on fire, read The Beetle Leg.
P
Pynchon will usually get a look in at your mid-range bookshop, but the acid test here is the range. Everything from V to Mason & Dixon should be on the rack.
S
At the far end of the rack I look for Iain Sinclair. Anything by him, but especially his cracking take on Thatcher's Britain, Downriver.
It's all over by this point, really. But I may drift further down the racks scanning for the odd title. Gilbert Sorrentino, Ronald Sukenick (really clutching at straws with him), etc.
Yes, I know that, apart from Bail & Sinclair, they are all Americans. That probably has as much to do with the availability of american fiction in the antipodes as it does with the vigour of american writing over the last half-century. And yes, only one woman but, given they are crowding the shelves anyway, my preferences are clearly to the minority (as well as the elite).
Comments?
whats wrong with w?jason w. there are some fine w
writers both white, one patrick and the other edmond.(and
perhaps even e.b.)edmonds writings though may appear in
'the gay section'.having such a section can make a
bookshop noteworthy.such sections are often marked by
rainbow flags, or perhaps pink triangles.a rainbow flag is
the more up to date symbol. not that i expect u 2 b on
the lookout for such sections, but when noting a
bookshops worth...one must be inclusive
Ian
Patrick W definitely had his moments (Riders in the Chariot and Voss), but -let's face it- every Australian bookshop with a scintilla of pretension feels compelled to stock the oeuvre of the Laureate from Oz. As for the rainbow fiction, I'd be looking for The Counterfeiters, but I take your point.
/J