Paul auster has died at his New York home Brooklyn at 77 years old due to lung cancer that he suffered. A prestigious writer, he has stood out as a novelist, poet, screenwriter and film director. His books have been translated into forty languages, especially his New York Trilogy, formed by City of Glass, Ghosts, and The Locked Room. His legacy leaves a huge impact on contemporary literature for his introspective prose and his plots of a special mystery. This is a review of his life and work to honor him.
Paul auster
Paul Benjamin Auster was born on February 3, 1947 in Newark, New Jersey. He grew up in a middle-class Jewish family and studied English literature at Columbia University, where he graduated in 1970. After finishing his studies, he traveled to France, where he resided for several years. There he worked as translator, proofreader and security guard.
Already in the 80s his recognition as an author began by publishing his first novel, The invention of loneliness, a book with an autobiographical touch and a mix between philosophical meditation and literary reflection on his relationship with his father. It was the one that marked the beginning of a very prolific literary career which would make him one of the most influential writers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
But his most relevant success, and also written in the second half of that decade, is the New York Trilogy, a series of detective novels that earned him the status of cult author and international recognition. Then he continued publishing and exploring a wide variety of genres and themes in more titles that highlight lonely characters searching for their place and connection in a complex and changing world.
In addition to being a novelist, Auster also got into the cinema typing scripts cinematographic and collaborating with directors such as Wayne Wang and Wim Wenders, but also directing several films. That ability to successfully navigate different artistic paths also earned him more recognition from readers and viewers. Furthermore, he cultivated poetry, tests and memories.
Very secretive in his personal life, that reserve also fueled the intrigue about him, but without a doubt his experiences such as the early loss of his father or those of a son and a grandson already in recent years marked his existence.
Awards
Throughout his career, Auster received numerous awards including the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature in 2006 and the National Medal of Arts in 2012. His work has been translated into numerous languages and continues to be an object of study and admiration around the world.
Paul Auster — work
These are just a few notable titles.
- The invention of loneliness. Autobiographical reflection on the death of his father and his own relationship with fatherhood.
- New York Trilogy: City of Glass, Ghosts, and The Locked Room. They follow Detective Daniel Quinn and the mysterious cases he has to investigate in New York.
- moon, S Palace: It tells the story of Marco Stanley Fogg, a young man in search of his identity and his place in the world.
- Leviathan: novel in which Auster touches on themes such as obsession and betrayal with the story of a man who seeks revenge for the death of his wife and son.
- Mr Vertigo: Set in the America of the Great Depression, its protagonist is Walt Rawley, a boy who is taken by a mysterious teacher to learn to fly.
- The Book of Illusions: When he loses his wife and children in a plane crash, Professor David Zimmer immerses himself in the life of a missing actor, Hector Mann, and his lost films.
- brooklyn follies: Another of its representative titles of the 21st century. It stars Nathan Glass, a man who retires to Brooklyn after a serious medical diagnosis and ends up entangled in the lives of his neighbors and family.