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Paul Auster

Nathan

Nathan

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I just read "Oracle Night" and "In the Country of Last Things", both by Paul Auster, and I am very impressed. His subject matter is very surreal and dreamlike (nightmarish in Last Things), and I recommend him for fans of Steve Erickson, Don DeLillo and Thomas Pynchon.

"Oracle Night" explores the possibility that written words can affect the future, and "Last Things" describes a city where everything is crumbling and disappearing, even memories, words, and ideas.

Auster's books read very quickly, and they're not too long, so you can finish them in a couple days, which is good, IMO (and there is plenty of food for thought, so it's not a case of not getting your money's worth, far from it).

Anyone else a fan of his? Also I'm looking for similar authors who wrtie about trippy things.
 
I would never characterize Paul Auster as trippy. I think the slipperiness of memory is something you experience, and writers who feel that happening sometimes record it. Paul Auster went through a whole cycle of life before he wrote those stories. Not to say he didn't trip out or that he wouldn't understand that, but I think the essence of his writing is in the real experience of dislocated memory.

I speak from both ends of this discussion, BTW, but I think PA is creating something learned over time about the infidel reality.
 
novella said:
but I think the essence of his writing is in the real experience of dislocated memory.
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Well put. Auster is great.
And I too wouldn't say 'trippy', to me it's more like life sometimes is, or maybe moreso should be.
Highly recommended in this day and age where there are so few living writers worth reading and looking forward to new works from.
 
Auster is one of my favourite authors. The books really manages to pull you in.

I like how he often lets someone in his books tell his life story to the protagonist. It gives it an aura of realism as it's not as if the author is trying to romanticise himself as the protagonist, instead it's rather like he's telling stories of interesting people he's met.

My favourite books so far are "In the Country of Last Things", "The New York Trilogy" and "Leviathan".
 
Leviathan

I enjoyed reading Leviathan very much. There are a lot of great thoughts about relationships and life in general. I liked the description of how authors are haunted by the readers who can relate to the book to such extent that they consider the author their best friend.
 
I read ”Oracle Night” a few days back, and liked it a lot, especially the themes that it dealt with. It was different and “new”, not the usual “nonsense” going on page after page, which is the case with many books lately. At least the ones I’ve read. The footnotes were pretty clever and not confusing at all. I was surprised to find them in a novel, but as said, it worked well.
I’ll definitely be reading more by him sometime soon.

Nathan said:
"Oracle Night" explores the possibility that written words can affect the future,
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It was quite interesting to read about that. Very actually. :)
 
I loved New York Trilogy, it really stretched me, I found myself thinking about it long after I had finished it. Thanks for reminding me about PA, I'll def be reading some more of his work now.
 
I am a big Auster fan and I have almost read anything he has written!

I like "The book of illusions" and "Leviathan" the most. Right now I am waiting to get "True tales of an american life".

If anyone would like to talk more deeply about his books, I shall be there :D

Flower
 
Flowerdk4 said:
I am a big Auster fan and I have almost read anything he has written!

I like "The book of illusions" and "Leviathan" the most. Right now I am waiting to get "True tales of an american life".

If anyone would like to talk more deeply about his books, I shall be there :D

Flower
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Hey - I found it - you've already been here! :) :) :)
 
I'm a definite Auster fan as well. Oracle Night was my favorite...we've all had a "bue notebook" in our lives at some point, and he captured the essence of that beautifully.
 
KaiNYC said:
I'm a definite Auster fan as well. Oracle Night was my favorite...we've all had a "bue notebook" in our lives at some point, and he captured the essence of that beautifully.
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Yep - Oracle Night was a corker. I've heard it's a good place for people to start when getting into Auster. I guess that's true - it is quite a page turner.

I have a bit of a stationery fetish, so i really did identify with the book.
 
CDA said:
Yep - Oracle Night was a corker. I've heard it's a good place for people to start when getting into Auster. I guess that's true - it is quite a page turner.
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I cant remember Oracle Night right now :confused: Is it the one where he goes to a shop to get this special notebook and some time afterwards the shop is gone?

What do I like about Auster´s books? I have been thinking about this. And I think it has to do with different things. I like the way he desribes his characters, you really get to know how they function, how they feel on a deep level and you get a good idea of what they look like. I often get amased with his knowledge of human behaviour and the way he expresses this. I also like that he, more or less, makes a book about a certain concept, explores it in many ways. Then there is the mystery in the stories, you never know what will happen. Please share what you like about his books.

CDA said:
I have a bit of a stationery fetish, so i really did identify with the book.
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I have never heard of this type of fetish before! :D Do you buy special pens, paper and notebooks?? I love these pens, old fashion ones, where you can make beautifull caligraphic letters.

Flower
 
I read the book "True tales of American life" just recently. And it was great, filled with many funny, strange and lovely stories. You can certainly see that its in Paul Austers spirit to release these stories.

Flower
 
Yes, Oracle Night is the one with the blue notebook. Have you read The Red Notebook?

What I like about Auster's books is his fascination with identity. Where does one person end and another begin? What does it mean to want to be someone else? What does it TAKE to be someone else?
Chance is another fascination of his. He's been slated for making too much use of chance in his books. But this is something that fascinates me. If people sit and think for a little while, they will realise that coincidence/chance is all around us. Well, it is for me - I've had some bizarre things happen to in my life.

This is what I like about his books.

Then, there's the whole stationery issue, which is kind of a lighter side to his books. Yes, i spend ages looking for JUST the right notebook. And as for pens - well - I can spend all day deciding which one I want, even if it's a cheap one...
 
Flowerdk4 said:
I read the book "True tales of American life" just recently. And it was great, filled with many funny, strange and lovely stories. You can certainly see that its in Paul Austers spirit to release these stories.

Flower
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I almost bought that book today. How many stories are in it? I'm also tempted by The Story of My Typewriter.
 
CDA said:
Yes, Oracle Night is the one with the blue notebook. Have you read The Red Notebook?

What I like about Auster's books is his fascination with identity. Where does one person end and another begin? What does it mean to want to be someone else? What does it TAKE to be someone else?
Chance is another fascination of his. He's been slated for making too much use of chance in his books. But this is something that fascinates me. If people sit and think for a little while, they will realise that coincidence/chance is all around us. Well, it is for me - I've had some bizarre things happen to in my life.

This is what I like about his books.

Then, there's the whole stationery issue, which is kind of a lighter side to his books. Yes, i spend ages looking for JUST the right notebook. And as for pens - well - I can spend all day deciding which one I want, even if it's a cheap one...
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The read notebook is one of the books I havent read. :eek: Yes there is some I havent read!

This is so great to finally talk with someone about Auster. I have never really thought that he wrote much about identity! But I can see what you mean and I think you are right. Maybe he is fascinated with what makes a person this person and what makes your life the way it is. Identity and chance. I think this could be the reason why I feel he knows so much about behaviour as he has given it a lot of thought to why people behave like they do and if something happens in their life, how they would react to it.
I do agree that chance is all around us. I also believe that things will happen when we are ready and that we attract different things, unsciously. So if one chance happens we may not notice it and pick up on it if we are not ready.

About your fetish. I find it somehow cute. I am picturing you walking in a store talking hours just to decide which pen to buy for like a couple of pounds. I was thinking if I am the same with things and I can only come up with kitchen stuff, like plates etc. I dont buy this very often and dont have a huge fancy set of plates etc. but I remember when I bought the plates I have today. It took me hours. I ended up with some stone kind of plates, not porcelain, they are from a set where you could mix with different shapes and colours. I am not sure what they english word is for the type of plates, but they look like the ones you would buy right out of an artists oven. Not wedgewood like if you get the picture. (wedgewood being an english style, white with flowers on).

Back to Auster. I read, again, Leviathan, this summer. And for the first time, I noticed that title. Then I got thinking that the title of his books means something, have a deeper meaning. I have heard that Tibuktu should mean something, cant remember what though. And how about Oracle night, does that mean something special?

Flower
 
CDA said:
I almost bought that book today. How many stories are in it? I'm also tempted by The Story of My Typewriter.
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I am sitting here with my copy of the book. There is 180 stories in it. I shall type the first one for you here as its so great in its own way:

"The chicken"
As I was walking down Stanton Street early one sunday morning, I saw a chicken a few yards ahead of me. I was walking faster than the chicken, so I gradually caught up. By the time we approached Eigteenth Avenue, I was close behind. The chicken turned south on Eighteenth. At the fourth house along, it turned in at the walk, hopped up the front steps, and rapped sharply on the metal storm door with its beak. After a moment, the door opened and the chicken went in.
Linda Elegant, Portland, Oregon


I havent read "The story of my typewriter".

Flower
 
Flowerdk4 I have never really thought that he wrote much about identity! Back to Auster. I read said:
Well, it's only my opinion that he writes about identity. I say this because of stuff like in NY Trilogy. There are some other examples, but I'm drawing a blank right now - I'll have to look through my books.

I've not really thought about what the titles of his books mean - but you've certainly got me thinking now!

Another recurring theme in his books: acts of futility - people carrying out prolonged tasks that seemingly have no purpose. Why do people do these things? It's not simply obsessional. Perhaps though, we all carry out tasks like this. I know I do.
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Flowerdk4 said:
I am sitting here with my copy of the book. There is 180 stories in it. I shall type the first one for you here as its so great in its own way:

"The chicken"
As I was walking down Stanton Street early one sunday morning, I saw a chicken a few yards ahead of me. I was walking faster than the chicken, so I gradually caught up. By the time we approached Eigteenth Avenue, I was close behind. The chicken turned south on Eighteenth. At the fourth house along, it turned in at the walk, hopped up the front steps, and rapped sharply on the metal storm door with its beak. After a moment, the door opened and the chicken went in.
Linda Elegant, Portland, Oregon


I havent read "The story of my typewriter".

Flower
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Ha! Thanks for this! I read this earlier, and I've been thinking about it all day, wandering around town. I have now had to go and buy the book...looking forward to reading his intro....
 
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