This Is Not a Novel

If David Markson is anything like Writer, a lugubrious fellow who pops up intermittently in ''This Is Not a Novel,'' his latest experimental outing, he seems to have written a book that's entertaining in spite of himself. Writer mopes around, feeling ''weary unto death of making up stories'' and ''equally tired of inventing characters.'' In an apparent bid to make his readers just as miserable, he wishes to ''contrive'' a ''novel'' without either. 

By: Laura Miller

(Source: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/01/04/01/bib/010401.rv...)