David Markson's 'Arrêter d'écrire' Examines Writing on Nothing

David Markson's 'Arrêter d'écrire', published by Éditions Le cherche midi, is a French translation of 'This is Not a Novel', rendered by Claro. The book presents a fragmented, aphoristic text where the author, referred to simply as 'Écrivain', claims to write about nothing, echoing Swift's exergue. Markson compiles notes from his readings, evoking a verbal fugue that questions the necessity of writing. The work juxtaposes the brevity of lives and glories of artists and writers with their often tragic deaths, creating a partial, biased history of art and literature. It explores the paradox of writing on nothing as a means to avoid vanity, while engaging the reader in a hyperbolical doubt to rediscover the authenticity of writing. Markson refuses traditional novelistic mastery, instead offering a meta-discourse that interrogates the act of writing itself. The text includes references to Catullus and Osip Mandelstam, highlighting the political dangers of writing. Ultimately, the work is a meditation on the condition of the writer and the reader, ending with 'Adieux, et soyez sages'.