The best works of novelist Paul Auster... the inventor of isolation

The prominent American novelist Paul Auster passed away at the age of 77 (1947-2024) after a year-long struggle with lung cancer, according to statements by family friend Jackie Layden.

Landen told Agency France-Persse: "Paul died at his home on Tuesday evening in the presence of his loved ones. His wife, writer Siri Hustveit, confirmed last year that the American novelist was suffering from cancer."

Paul Auster is an icon of American literature

Paul Auster was born in 1947 in the American state of New Jersey. He had multiple skills. He was an American novelist, essayist, translator, screenwriter, and poet. He became a literary icon in New York. His literary legacy is distinguished by more than thirty books, and his works have been translated into more than 40 languages.

After graduating in 1970, Auster studied French, Italian, and British literature at Columbia University in New York. After that, he moved to France, where he began translating the works of French writers and publishing their works in American magazines. Despite working in various jobs, he continued writing until he succeeded in making an income. He was stable in his writing, and after his father died in 1979, he was able to devote himself to writing thanks to the inheritance he left him.

Paul Auster creates his isolation

“Nothing is more terrifying than encountering the belongings of a dead man…” With this phrase, Paul Auster begins the story of his family, where his father, Sam Auster, was a mysterious man surrounded by secrets and many walls around himself.

After his father's death, Paul begins to rummage through his things to discover that his father left no trace behind him. However, he continues to examine his car, his office, and the photo albums he kept, only to be shocked later by horrific details about his father's childhood life and the pain he kept inside, including... This includes watching his mother kill his father in the kitchen without daring to share this incident with anyone.

Paul Auster talks about his complicated relationship with his father, his feelings at the moment of his death, and how he entered his reality after that.

After you finish reading “The Invention of Solitude,” you will wonder how many things the writer might reveal about his family.

Paul Auster's latest writings

Although he was afflicted with cancer last year, that did not prevent him from publishing his last novel, “Baumgartner,” which was translated into French in February 2024, and he admitted during a period of mental activity that it was “the last thing he would write.”

Best books by Paul Auster

Reading Paul Auster's books that defy classification is nothing more than immersing himself in his diverse worlds, which he accurately described in his book The Brooklyn Follies: “When one is lucky enough to live inside a story, to live inside an imaginary world, the pain of that world dissipates,” he continued. Auster: “As long as the story persists, reality loses part of its existence.” Fortunately, Auster has provided us with a set of worlds, stories, and realities in which we enjoy losing ourselves.

These books best represent his works, as they take us on unforgettable journeys to worlds of imagination and deep analysis of man and reality, enriching the reading experience and leaving us immersed in the worlds he depicts with artistic and contemplative mastery.

By using reality and coincidence as basic elements in his writings, novelist Paul Auster enriched his stories with a distinctive character that transcends the boundaries of reality and explores transformations in human identities. Here is an overview of his works.

The Invention of Solitude (1982)

Paul Auster's first memoir, "The Invention of Solitude," was not just another book, but rather a tool that added a new and exciting voice to the arena of literature. This book is distinguished by its boldness and innovation, as Auster tells his story as the son of an absent father and the father of a young son. The topics he reviewed in This book - like grief, loss, identity, loneliness, and coincidence - became a central focus of his later works, both fiction and non-fiction.

The New York Trilogy (1987)

This book artistically forms a narrative trilogy (“City of Glass,” “Ghosts,” and “The Locked Room”), each of which borrows elements from detective fiction by focusing on a person investigating a subject to the point of oblivion. However, at its core, the New York Trilogy—widely believed to be among his most popular works among academics, undergraduates, and aspiring writers—is a meditation on the things that define an individual. This book cemented Auster's status as an elegant writer, exploring his distinctive novels in search of... Meaning and identity, constantly, struggle against the constraints of art and language.

Moon Palace (1989)

This novel combines all the ingredients readers have come to expect from the works of Paul Auster: an isolated male narrator, the search for an absent father, and disillusionment with missed opportunities. The story revolves around orphan Marco Stanley Fogg, who embarks on an adventurous journey west from New York to uncover the secrets of his family's past. From time to time, the journey takes a comic turn beyond imagination, but the novel features “honest and complex” characters that make it a fun and interesting story.

Leviathan (1992)

“Leviathan,” which takes its name from Thomas Hobbes's treatise on the role of government in society, tells the story of a man who seeks to understand why his friend blew himself up with a bomb. The film fully reflects Austrian themes, as stated in his review, where "imaginative life meets... "Recorded, real characters shape the destinies of fictional characters."

The Book of Illusions (2002)

David Zimmer, the book's narrator who appears briefly in "Moon Palace," faces random questions of chance that confuse him. Alone and on a path of self-destruction. After losing his family in a plane crash, he finds himself obsessed with the works of Hector Mann, an actor who disappeared decades ago and is believed to be dead. After writing a book about him, Zimmer receives a mysterious letter stating that Mann is still alive. The letter threatens to expose Zimmer's entire world, which Auster presents in a muted, elegiac tone.

The Brooklyn Follies (2005)

Set in vibrant New York City, “The Brooklyn Follies” follows Nathan Glass, a cancer survivor, who searches for “a quiet place to die,” but finds himself embroiled in an unexpected existential crisis. Although the subject matter is solemn, However, this film embodies the playful atmosphere that characterizes Auster's way of expressing life.

4 3 2 1 (2017)

"4 3 2 1" is a huge artistic novel that narrates the life of young Archie Ferguson through four parallel scenarios, with a number of pages of 866, and this size may seem exhausting; However, as Tom Perrotta pointed out in his New York Times review: “It is impossible not to be drawn in—and even a little in awe of—by what Auster has done, ‘4 3 2 1’ is an ambitious, astonishing work of art and skill, bringing together four stories Competing and complementary, it represents a huge novel vibrant with life and complexity.