Review of the Day: Vanishing Point by David Markson

 

Today’s index card art prompt is vanishing point. So, I decided to attempt a self-portrait of myself with a copy of David Markson’s novel titled Vanishing Point. It has been a long time since I attempted a grid reproduction of a photograph. I will admit that, at one point, I lost track of which grid I was in and put my eyes in the wrong spot. But I put some gesso on and tried again. Artistic growth is not always linear and one needs to be willing to make some mistakes to become better. 

Here is the photograph I used as my model. 

Here are a few quotes from the novel.

David Markson’s novel Vanishing Point is an experimental novel described in the text as

Author has finally started to put his notes into manuscript form.

Author has been scribbling the notes on three-by-five-inch index cards. They now come close to filling two shoebox tops taped together end to end.

Most of the book is aphorisms about writers and artists, with the occasional note about Author. Here is a sample of a few lines:

** Edmund Wilson managed to go through life without reading Don Quixote.

And through a full ten-year period without paying his income tax. **

**Proust’s deathbed photo. By Man Ray. 

Joyce, asked to compare D. H. Lawrence and Aldous Huxley: 

Huxley at least dresses decently.**

**Plato and Aristotle and other philosophers are now in Hell. An old woman knows more about the Faith than Plato. 

Said Savonarola.**

**The occasions during their collaboration when Braque and Picasso could not always say with certainty which cubist canvas had been the work of whom. 

My ex-wife, Picasso would later speak of Braque as. 

Beethoven was once seen to throw a dish at a servant. 

And again at a waiter.**

Personally I find the book intoxicating. Markson’s Vanishing Point will appeal to open minded people who love books, art, and intellectual history. However, if you are looking for a traditional plot, then this is not the book for you.

kindle. 191 pgs. 30 June 2025.