GOING DOWN

by David Markson ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 23, 1970

A ""monody,"" a minor passion play written in blood, tears and tequila, takes place in a small Mexican village where Fern Winters is living for more than a year with the self-sufficient, arrogant Steve Chance when they are joined by another young woman, Lee Suffridge. This trigamous situation attracts the attention of the villagers and lends a certain hooded curiosity to the book which is not altogether repaid--even by the time you get to the interchangeable episode in the bed. Since most of the time Fern who is supposed to be painting (""painting the darkness within"") is also mourning her emotional displacement (""my fantasy daddy is dead. Or was she out of Flemish siccative too""--sic--sick) and alluding to every other despairing, drunk and mad artist summoned up throughout the pages of what she calls her ""two peso version of the abyss."" Or volcano. And even with the attribution, one cannot help but feel that what has been so freely used has also been imitatively abused.

Pub Date: March 23, 1970

ISBN: 1593760647

Page Count: -

Publisher: Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1970

Categories: FICTION