The Ballad of Dingus Magee [Paperback]

David Markson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 28, 2008

Although best known today for his singular, stunning “anti-novels” dazzlingly conjured from anecdotes, quotes, and small thoughts, in his early days David Markson paid the rent by writing punchy, highly dramatic fictions. On the heels of a new double edition of his steamy noirs Epitaph for a Tramp and Epitaph for a Deadbeat comes a new edition of his 1965 classic The Ballad of Dingus Magee, whose subtitle — “Immortal True Saga of the Most Notorious and Desperate Bad Man of the Olden Days, his Blood-Shedding, his Ruination of Poor Helpless Females, & Cetera” — gives readers a hint of the raucous sensibility at work here. Brimming with blasphemy, bullets, and bordellos, this hilarious tale, which inspired the Frank Sinatra movie Dirty Dingus McGee, shows the early Markson at his outrageous best, taking down, as Playboy put it, “the breeches of the Old West and blast[ing] what's exposed with buckshot.”

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This 1965 comic Western was the basis for the films Dirty Dingus Magee and Cat Ballou. It follows the exploits of the title character and his motley crew of friends and associates.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Counterpoint (May 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582434107
• ISBN-13: 978-1582434100
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 4.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,116,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jest Nacherly Funny, You Mule-Sniffer, November 29, 2008

By 

Douglas S. Wood "Vicarious Life" (Monona, WI) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Ballad of Dingus Magee (Paperback)

David Markson was recently (2007) named as one of the 60 best authors you've never read by New York magazine. Up until yesterday I counted myself as one of the unread, but no more. I did not read one of his postmodern works like The Last Novel or Vanishing Point: A Novel, but rather one of his earliest works, the anti-Western The Ballad of Dingus Magee.

The back matter on the recently reissued paperback asserts Markson wrote Dingus Magee in a `much more traditional narrative style' than his postmodern works. That claim makes me wonder if the publisher actually read the book!

Whatever. The Ballad of Dingus Magee is a hoot from beginning to end as it relates the feud between the desperado Dingus Billy Magee and Sheriff C.L. Hoke Birdsill. The book starts in the middle and then runs in hilarious circles to and fro, but basically Magee seeks feminine companionship (and fortune) whilst Hoke Birdrippings seeks fame (and fortune). Sheriff Birdbottom repeatedly captures Dingus only to fall victim to some folly before Hoke can collect the reward money. Dingus and Hoke conspire to inflate Dingus's desperado repute so that the reward grows even when Dingus is down in Old Mex.

The hapless Turkey Doolan finds himself in the middle of the feud on more than one occasion and wants nothing more than to bask in the shade of Dingus Magee's glory. Markson holds the whole Old West in some disregard. Witness his description of the (allegedly!) phony heroics of the Earps, Hickok, and Pat Garret to name a few (pages 109-110) , and of George Armstrong Custer as: "nothing but a mule-sniffing, boastful, yeller-haired fool that dint have the sense to wait on the rest of his troops and got massacred for it..."

What Markson's Old West lacks in heroism it makes up in overflowing randiness. As the independently operating entrepreneur Anna Hot Water might have said, there's a bim-bam here and a bim-bam there, everywhere a bim-bam. Even the equine Miss Agnes Pfeiffer manages to engage in intimate contact with Dingus, Hoke, and Turkey after convincing each of them that her chills can only be cured by brotherly cuddling.

Nacherly, Dingus runs afoul of the town's business woman, `Big Blouse' Belle Nops who enraged describes him as, "The lamb-ramming, rump-rooting, scut-befouling, fist-wiving, gopher-mounting, finger-thrusting, maidenhead-barging, bird's-nest-ransacking, shift-besh*tting, two-at-a-time-tupping lecherous little pox."

Markson riotously debunks the heroic image of the Old West in ways reminiscent of Thomas Berger's Little Big Man (Panther) and has great fun with the dialect along the way. Highest recommendation for anyone with an interest in the Old West mythology or in need of a few laughs.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice diamond in the rough, November 1, 2010

By 

the overmouth (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Ballad of Dingus Magee (Paperback)

I came across this book by accident. I read it and thoroughly enjoyed it. I wish I had known about it ahead of time. It was a fun read and a lot more interesting than you would at first think. The writing is terrific and very stylized.