New York was his city, his “New York Trilogy” helped him achieve his breakthrough. His last work, “Baumgartner,” seemed to anticipate his farewell. Paul Auster has now died at the age of 77.
For him, writing is not an act of free will – it is a question of survival, Paul Auster once said in an interview. But for the successful writer, life was shaped by the power of chance. A motif that runs through his entire work. Especially through his novel “4 3 2 1”, which tells a life in four versions. A life that, not coincidentally, resembled his own – and which he praised just two years ago.
I’m grateful that I had so many years. And I hope there are a few more years to come. But we will see. It could be over today. I have no idea.
Studies in France, jobs as a translator
Paul Auster was born in New Jersey in 1947 to Jewish immigrants. Even as a teenager he dreamed of becoming a writer. He studied literature in New York and France and initially supported himself through teaching assignments and translation work.
In the end, the striking author with the heavy eyelids became a literary star: He wrote more than 30 books that were translated into more than 40 languages and were mostly set in his adopted home of New York.
The breakthrough didn’t come until I was 40
For a long time it didn’t look as if Auster would be successful with the letters. “I think ‘City of Glass’, the first part of the ‘New York Trilogy’, was rejected by 17 publishers,” the writer recalled. “That was a crucial moment in my life. Instead of despairing, I continued writing.”
The experimental crime stories in the trilogy brought Auster, who was already 40 years old, his breakthrough. Novels like “Mr. Vertigo” or “Book of Illusions” made him a celebrated best-selling author.
You reach a certain age. I am getting older. And many people you loved are dead. Best friends, relatives are dead. You walk around with ghosts in your head. The way you live with those who are still there. And then I realized that I was talking to the dead every day just as much as I was talking to the living.
New York and always New York
Auster’s stories are often set in Brooklyn, where he lived for 50 years with his second wife, the Norwegian-American writer Siri Hustvedt. The film “Smoke”, for which he wrote the screenplay, also takes place there – in a tobacco shop. His characters are often influenced by his own life story. Are eccentric, broken. In search of themselves, they often lose themselves in dark abysses.
“I have had my share of tragedies, troubles and disappointments in life,” said the author. “But all this time, my work and love of Siri have kept me afloat. I’m really glad to have found her and a job that I love.”
Late strokes of fate
In recent years, fate has dealt a bad blow in Auster’s life: after the death of his ten-month-old granddaughter, he also mourned the loss of his son. Both died of opioid poisoning. Just over a year ago, Siri Hustvedt announced that her husband had been suffering from cancer for a long time.
Whether of his own free will or not: Paul Auster wrote almost until the end. His last novel, “Baumgartner,” was published in the USA last November.
Politically active against Trump
Even before the last presidential election, Auster and other writers had founded the “Writers against Trump” initiative. The goal: to motivate as many people as possible to vote in order to prevent “the worst.” He wasn’t particularly optimistic, he said until the end.
Antje Passenheim, ARD New York, tagesschau, May 1st, 2024 9:12 a.m