Paul Auster Books In Order

Publication Order of New York Trilogy Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Plays Books

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Paul Auster is a prolific American author and poet famous for writing crime fiction novels. His works consist of blends of existentialism, absurdism, and search for personal meaning and identity. Some of the famous works of author Auster include Moon Palace, The Music of Chance, The New York Trilogy, The Brooklyn Follies, and The Book of Illusions. His novels have been translated into more than 40 languages all over the world. Author Auster was born on February 3, 1947 in Newark, New Jersey, United States. His birth name was Paul Benjamin Auster and he belonged to a Jewish family. Auster’s parents, Samuel and Queenie Auster, were of the Polish descent and lived a middle class life. Author Auster has a younger cousin named Lawrence Auster, who is a conservative columnist. Auster spent his earlier days growing up in South Orange, New Jersey and completed his high school graduation from the Columbia High School located in Maplewood. Later, he graduated from the Columbia University in the year 1970 and shifted to Paris. The first job that Auster took up in Paris was that of translating the French literature. Then, he returned back to the US and started writing essays, novels, and poems. His works included some original ones of his own as well as some translations of the French writers, including Joseph Joubert and Stephane Mallarme. Auster’s debut work was a memoir titled The Invention of Solitude, which achieved a lot of acclaim. Following this, author Auster penned 3 loosely connected stories of detective fiction, which were collectively released as New York Trilogy.

Auster’s description of the stories of these books is not like that of typical detective stories. Rather, he has addressed the existential issues and the questions related to literature, identity, language, and space, with the use of detective form. This way, he created his own form set in the postmodern era. Auster is of the opinion that the world is full of many strange events and reality is much more mysterious that the credit given to it. Author Auster’s later publications are permeated by the search for identity & personal meaning. Many of these publications concentrate on the role of random events and coincidence, and the relationship of people with their peers and the environment. The heroes of author Auster in his stories are often seen obliged to their work. In 1995, author Auster took the path of direction and co-directed a couple of movies titled Blue in the Face and Smoke. Auster has served on the Board of Trustees of the PEN American Center between 2004 and 2009, and was also its Vice President from 2005 to 2007. Even though Auster continuously strives to come up with new ideas, he has said that he has found in hard to do so in the last few years. On the issue of the ill treatment of journalist in Turkey, author Auster had once said that he would never visit the country. The latest memoir written by author Auster is called A Life in Words. This memoir discusses the writing craft in relation to his own life. Author Auster has married twice in his lifetime. His first marriage was with a fellow writer named Lydia Davis. With Lydia, he has a son named Daniel Auster. After their divorce, Auster married another writer named Siri Hustvedt, who is the daughter of a scholar and professor named Llyod Hustvedt. The couple has a daughter named Sophie Auster. They live together in Brooklyn.

An initial book written by author Paul Auster is entitled ‘The Brooklyn Follies’. It was released by the Picador publishers in the year 2006. The main characters described in the story include Tom Wood, Nathan Glass, and Harry Brightman. Auster has set the plot in Brooklyn, New York City, New York. At the start of the book’s story, it is shown that Nathan Glass arrives in Brooklyn to die. He is retired, divorced, and estranged from his one and only daughter. Previously, Nathan Glass used to work as a salesman of life insurance, but now he is forced to live his life in anonymity and solitude. After a while, Nathan comes across his long lost nephew named Tom Wood, who works in a bookstore. This profession is far from the brilliant, promising career that Tom Wood had started with when he was last seen by Tom. The boss of Tom Wood is the charismatic and colorful Harry Brightman, who used to be the owner of an art gallery in Chicago at one point of time. It appears that Harry has also been brought to Brooklyn by his fate. Through Harry and Tom, the world of Tom broadens to new acquaintances gradually. Soon, Nathan gets drawn into a big scam that involves a forged page of Scarlet Letter. After this, Nathan begins to undertake a literary venture of his own called The Book of Human Folly. This venture consists of an account of every embarrassment, every blunder, every inane act, every pratfall, every idiocy, and every foible that Nathan has committed in his long & checkered career in being a man.

Another interesting book that author Auster wrote in his literary career is called ‘The Book of Illusions’. This book was published by Picador Paper publication in the year 2003. Author Auster has mentioned the lead characters in this novel’s story as Hector Mann and David Zimmer. At the beginning of the story of the book, David Zimmer is introduced as a Vermont Professor. He loses his wife and 2 young sons and cannot gather the strength to bear his loss. After six months of losing his family, David Zimmer indulges himself in the blur of alcoholic self-pity and grief. One night while still in his miserable condition, he discovers a clip of a silent comedian named Hector Mann. The film clip causes David to pique his interest, and he soon discovers himself embarking on an interesting journey throughout the world. He strives to research the story of Hector Mann, the man who disappeared from the scene in 1929, and write a book on his life. When David’s book gets published in the next year, he gets a letter in his mailbox, which contains an address from a New Mexico town where he is invited to meet the man, Hector Mann. At first, David hesitates, but later, a woman arrives at his doorstep and enables him to take the decision on meeting Hector. Since then, David’s life changes forever.

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