The second page of the Foreword of David Markson’s copy of Dostoevsky: Works and Days by Avrahm Yarmolinsky:
On which Markson put a check next to Yarmolinsky writing:
“The author is greatly indebted to his wife, Babette Deutsch, for generous help in the preparation of this book.”
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Avrahm Yarmolinsky may be “greatly indebted to his wife,” but you know who else was?
David Markson.
Dedicating Going Down:
“To Elaine, my wife, and to the memory of Malcolm Lowry.”
David and Elaine Markson separated in 1982.
Markson didn’t release what is widely seen as his masterpiece—Wittgenstein’s Mistress—until 1988. Even though he supposedly finished it sometime around 1983.
“Although Elaine and David had separated by then, Elaine continued to represent her former husband’s work.”
Wrote Joanna Scott in her article “A Passionate Reader: On David Markson” in The Nation.
His late-life success he undeniably owes, at least in small part, to his literary agent:
His ex-wife Elaine Markson, from the Markson Thoma Literary Agency.
The author is greatly indebted to his wife.