Biography
David Merrill Markson was born in Albany, NY, on December 20, 1927.
Educated at Union College and Columbia University, Markson began his writing career as a journalist and book editor, periodically taking up work as a college professor at Columbia University, Long Island University, and The New School.
Though his first novel was published in the late fifties, he did not gain prominence until the late eighties, when he was over 60 years old, with the publication of Wittgenstein's Mistress. From this point, his fame as an underappreciated writer steadily grew, so much so that he told an interviewer: "One of my friends told me to be careful before I become well known for being unknown."
Markson died in New York City, in his West Village apartment where, according to the author's literary agent and former wife Elaine Markson, Markson's two children found him on June 4, 2010 in his bed.
Upon David Markson's death, his entire personal library was donated to the Strand Bookstore, according to his wishes.
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