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An Art of Desire. Reading Paul Auster the first book-length study solely devoted to the novels of Paul Auster. From the vantage-point of poststructuralist theory, especially Lacanian psychoanalysis and Derridean deconstruction, this book explores the relation of Auster's novels City of Glass, In the Country of Last Things, Moon Palace, and The Music of Chance to the rewriting and deconstruction of genre conventions; their connections to concepts such as catastrophe theory, the sublime, Freud's notion of the 'death drive;' as well as the philosophical underpinnings of his work. At the focus of this study, however, is the concept of desire, an important concept in the writings of both Auster and Lacan, and the various manifestations of this concept in Auster's novels.
Auster's novels always emphasize a kind of outside of the text (chance, the real, the unsayable), a kind of hope for a 'transparent language,' a hope, however, that is exactly posited as impossible to fulfill. The relation of Daniel Quinn, Anna Blume, Marco Fogg and Jim Nashe to this lack is the motor of their desire, the driving force for the subject that has always already left the real and has been inscribed into the representational system called 'reality.' It is here, in its relation to the signifier, that the subject's desire is played out, that its experience is ordered, interpreted, and articulated. It is their ability to make connections, to proliferate, to 'affirm free-play,' their ability 'not to bemoan the absence of the centre' that ultimately decides over success or failure of Auster's subjects - whether they partake in the 'joyous errance of the sign,' or whether their fate is that of the 'unfortunate traveler.'

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A complicated Dance of Theory and Fiction
This, the first book-length study of Auster's works, proves to be a both demanding and rewarding affair. Make no mistake, this is definitely scholarship at the highest level and not a book for high-school kids doinga paper on The New York Trilogy.

Even for readers well-versed incontemporary literary theory and literature there is work to be done, andif you have a problem with a theoretical approach to literature then staymiles away from this book - unless you really are an avid Auster-fan: thenyou should feel obliged to at least give it a go.

But if you areinterested in witnessing how theory, in this case of the post-structuralistvein (in particular Lacan and Derrida), and literature - four of Auster'score works (City of Glass, In the Country of Last Things, The Music ofChance and Moon Palace) may cross-fertilize each other - this is definitelya book to read.

For students (post-graduates in particular, I guess) andscholars working with Auster this book is indispensable. The chapters onthe genre-affiliations preceding every close reading are for the most partinteresting, in particular in connection with Moon Palace which is seen asa novel written in the picaresque mode. The close readings following thesegeneric definitions are very thorough and eye-opening, and the Lacanianapproach often leads to stunningly original interpretations, forcing thereader read Auster in a new light. I thoroughly recommend this study - theeffort is rewarded with insight and inspiration. ... Read more

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Walt is an orphan from the mid-West who is set on the road to stardom by the dark and mesmerizing figure of Master Yehudi. When the Master takes little Walt back to the mysterious house on the great plains, he initiates the tutorial process that will culminate in Walt's learning to fly. ... Read more

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Understanding Paul Auster is a comprehensive companion to the work of a writer who effectively balances a particular combination of Jewish American identity and European sensibility across an impressive breadth of novels, screenplays, essays, and poetry. James Peacock views Auster as chiefly concerned with the individual’s problematic relationship with language, a theme present from the enigmatic poetry of Auster’s early career to the more inclusive and optimistic imaginings of the films Smoke and Blue in the Face and the novels Timbuktu, The Brooklyn Follies, and Man in the Dark.

Peacock’s study maps the evolution of Auster’s fiction and its forms, goals, and influences. Peacock argues that the key event for any Auster character is the realization that language should not be restricted to documenting reality but should instead be embraced for its metaphorical qualities and constantly shifting nature. Peacock finds in Auster a view of language as inherently ethical and communal because, to use language creatively, one must be immersed in the plurality of experience and listen to the voices of others. In celebrated works such as The Invention of Solitude and The New York Trilogy, these voices include Auster’s literary antecedents. Increasingly in his recent work, however, they include those of ordinary people. Peacock suggests that in the aftermath of 9/11, much of Auster’s fiction places even greater importance on sympathetic relations with ordinary individuals and advocates through artistic endeavors the merits of connecting with others. ... Read more

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Now including The Red Notebook--a collection of autobiographical sketches on coincidence--The Art Of Hunger undermines our accepted notions about literature. Auster's meditations on writing and artists leads us to a better understanding of the toll of writing. ... Read more

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Auster's Austerities
This collection of essays, interviews, and prefaces explores the theme of "Hunger" (whether spiritual or artistic) in modern fiction, poetry, and art. Auster's essays celebrate (or provide a general overview of) works (or careers) of important artists, such as Knut Hamsun, Samuel Beckett, John Ashbery, William Bronk, Georges Perec, and Franz Kafka. Kafka is the subject of two essays in the book, and his story "A Hunger Artist" is for Auster a sort of template or emblem for the seriousness of the modern artist's task. Hunger, for Auster, seems to be a kind of rebellion, a reluctance to collaborate with the failures of Western culture, and yet it is, at times, both purifying and self-destructive. Auster does not present simple resolutions regarding this predicament. Rather, he appreciates the noble struggle each of these artists has waged. And though Auster seems to admire each of the figures he writes about, he is not uncritical of them. His piece entitled "Kafka's Letters" reveals his deep admiration of Kafka, yet Auster does not present the Czech author as a "literary giant", but as a man--an amazingly insightful, intelligent, generous man, who, despite his troubled inner life, managed to remain committed to his art and to his friends until his excruciating last moments. The piece exalts Kafka by humanizing him, deepening our admiration of both Kafka and Auster. "The Art of Hunger" ends with "The Red Notebooks," an interesting meditation on coincidence, which includes fascinating anecdotes from Auster's own life. In all, this is a satisfying collection of prose pieces that fans of Auster's fiction (and/or fans of the artists discussed in the book) should thoroughly enjoy. ... Read more

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Con esta obra se inicio la Trilogia de Nueva York, un deslumbrante conjunto de thrillers posmodernos que, segun los criticos, marca un nuevo punto de partida para la novela norteamericana. ... Read more

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De los azares decisivos
Auster fue propulsado a la fama con el primer libro de la "Trilogía newyorkina" titulado "Ciudad de vidrio", que se origina en base a un elemento fortuito: una llamada telefónica que recibe el protagonista de la historia pero que es en realidad dirigida a una persona que no es él. Decidido a jugar con este elemento del destino, opta por hacerse pasar por esta persona y ello cambia por ende todo el transcurso de su vida. Este libro, al igual que muchos otros de Auster, nos evidencia la fuerte convicción que tiene Auster del rol que juega la contingencia en nuestra vida, y que parece ser dirigida por una fuerza que nos escapa. Al analizarlas, esas fuerzas ocultas del destino nos revelan que no somos solamente entidades echadas a la suerte, sino que pertenecemos a un tejido que representa nuestra realidad cotidiana, y que se une a lo trascendente. Y, aun si no entendemos la articulación de esas fibras en las cuales nos movemos, existen, nos engloban y no podemos ignorarlas sino sería ignorar la vida en sí. ... Read more

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Sidney Orr es escritor y esta recuperandose de una enfermedad a la que nadie creia que sobreviviera... ... Read more

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Novela sobre alguien que escribe una novela
Auster nos presenta de forma maravillosa como fluyen las ideas del protagonista y como estas se atascan de acuerdo con las circunstancias que está viviendo. Nos permite ser testigos de lo que pasa por la mente de un escritor de novela mientras escribe una novela sobre alguien que lee una novela. Este libro me atrapó desde las primeras páginas ... Read more

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La ciudad de cristal, Fantasmas y La habitación cerrada, son las tres novelas que forman esta trilogia. En la primera, a Daniel Quinn, escritor de literatura policiaca, su interlocutor telefonico lo toma por un detective y le encarga un caso. Quinn se mete en el papel que le han adjudicado y se ve envuelto en una historia repleta de enigmas, complicadas relaciones paternofiliales, locura y delirio. En Fantasmas, un detective privado y el hombre al que tiene que vigilar juegan al escondite en un claustrofobico universo urbano. En la tercera novela, el protagonista se ve confrontado a los recuerdos de un amigo de infancia, cuando la mujer de este le escribe una carta explicandole que su marido ha desaparecido misteriosamente.Esta es sin dudas una de las obras mas memorables de los anos ochenta, uno de los cimientos sobre los que se sustenta el prestigio internacional de Paul Auster. ... Read more

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For nearly seven decades the ebullient art of Joan Miro (1893-1983), Spanish painter, sculptor, ceramist and mythmaker, has intrigued and enchanted art lovers worldwide. This collection of his writings presents a portrait of the artist in his own words. Miro's notebooks, letters, and interviews reveal the work and life of a brilliant artist revered for his uncanny expression of the subconscious. "Joan Miro" centres on Paris during the vibrant era between the wars, when Miro became the intimate of almost everyone in that scene - boxing with young Hemingway, working with Max Ernst on the Ballets Russes, drinking, painting and arguing with Picasso, Braque, Dubuffet, Matisse, Breton and many others. Miro engagingly recounts all of this, as well as stories of his exile during World War II. Miro's virtuosity encompassed drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics, poetry, stage sets, costumes, murals and tapestries; he vividly describes the creation of these artworks in these pages. ... Read more

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Miro in his Own Voice
For those who only know Miro as a painter of "abstract" or "childlike" pictures, Joan Miro : Selected Writings and Interviews reveals the true radicalism of his thought, a radicalism which, in the realm of visual art, equals that of Lenin in politics.Unlike other works, which ignore his theories about, for example, the "murder of painting," or acknowledge them only to distort their true meaning, here, "the most surrealist of us all" speaks in his own voice, enabling one to track the evolution of his thought from schoolyard days, through the frustration of his time in the army, to the development of ideas about the pen and brush which challenged the very world as it exists. The man who challenged his father by declaring the sky was purple was an intractable enemy of consensus reality.Yet in his ruthless charge towards the future, he did not cease from being a maker of pictures existing in all time and even outside of time.This work's precious insight provides little comfort for those who, as a defense mechanism or out of studied denial, belittle Miro's connection to surrealism, or the importance of his revolutionary role.

Corrosponding Realities
This selection of Miro's writing provides an interesting view into the intentions, beliefs, and personality of a very engaging and seminal Catalan artist.The book covers the great majority of his life and thoughts,dealing with his early fondness for Dada, his relationship with painterssuch as Masson, his exilic time in France, plus musings on Catalannationalism, the surrealist movement, and poetry.

For thosedie-hard Paul Auster fans (Auster translates the french writings in thistext), this book is a worthy read and insight into an artist who Austerdevotes time to translating, and in doing so illuminates sympathies betweenthe two: a nostolgic and essentialist notion of art as process that somehowremains endearing in the contemporary world, and somehow demands therespect and admiration that such force and sincerity manifests.

Afascinating read, both as a historical document, and an artistic biography:it provides an interesting glance into one of the most influencial modernpainters of Europe whose life was centered in the intellectual andhistorical complexities of late modernism. ... Read more

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'Until the heart is touched we do not begin to be'
I read this work with such fascination that I somehow forgot my daily work- routine and was lost in it, beginning to end. It is a remarkable piece of work. Like the first work of the trilogy 'City of Glass' it seems to me to reach the higher levels of Literary Creation.
The book is about two friends , the narrator and Fanshawe. Fanshawe has disappeared and after six months his wife, Sophia( Hawthorne is in this story beginning to end. Hawthorne's wife is Sophia Peabody, and Fanshawe a character of his fiction) contacts his childhood best and only friend . She does this not in the hope of finding her husband, but because she needs an evaluation of the ' writing' Fanshawe has left behind. Fanshawe made no effort to publish in his lifetime. Her secret motive is to break out of her loneliness, and in the ensuing action the inevitable will happen and she and the writer- friend will fall in love, love and marry. The writer- narrator will become the adopted father of the child who she was pregnant with when Fanshawe abandoned her.
There is a most moving description of the childhood friendship. There is also the fascinating story of Fanshawe's family( The father who died of cancer, the sister dependent on Fanshawe who went mad perhaps because of him) and the mother who it turns out hates her son. There is a surprising remeeting between the writer- friend and Fanshawe's mother in which their mutual resentment and hatred for Fanshawe is motive to an illicit vengeful act of physical love which is in fact an act of physical hate.
The description of the literary success of the presumed dead Fanshawe, of the misguided effort of the narrator- friend to write a Fanshawe biography(And the effect of this on his marriage) are also parts of the story.
I will stop telling or badly retelling the main story of the book to simply say the following about Auster and this work. I found this work as I have said a work of the highest quality and interest. Auster's capacity to surprise is one element of his great gift as a storyteller. There are in his work often, small stories within stories, which in themselves are worth the price of the volume. His retelling here for instance the life or the five or six different lives of Lorenzo da Ponte Mozart's librettist for his operas illustrates Austerian principles about life perfectly . As Auster sees it we are involved in an endless game of chance which means our lives continually surprise us. It also means by implication that our lives are mysteries which are never fully solved, even by ourselves.
Auster is a great craftsman of plot and character surprise and re- invention.
Fanshawe the main character of this work is allegedly locked inside himself, a mystery even to himself. His mother however accuses him of a tremendous coldness, of an inability to truly connect to or love anyone else. She commends the writer- narrator for his loving relation to his mother. Obviously his ability to love, to truly care for another is what enables him to connect up with Sophia in a real way. It is also probably the reason Fanshawe has chosen him for the task.
But again the genius of the work is the cold- hearted Fanshawe.
I must admit that with all my great admiration for the work of Auster I do feel a certain coldness in his work, his tone, his relation to his character. Even the best of them are somehow discarded without our knowing their true fates.
Is Auster himself too cold, too austere in his own judgment? Or is he a character encompassing the qualities of the two writers, Fanshawe and his narrator - friend, the distant isolated genius, and the warm loving family man?

Very Much a Matter of Taste
This is the third and last volume of New York Trilogy.Just as the book titles have little to do with what the books are about so does the overall title.This is the story of a man's search for himself and loosing those parts of himself that he doesn't like.Auster has used himself for many parts of the protagonists, and has split his personality into many personae.

At one point in this book, two of those personae get into a fight, adding a totally new dimension to the expression, "don't beat up on yourself", or maybe I just imagined it.Many of the characters from the first book "City of Glass" wander through this part, but in most cases they are very different from the them we met before.

As noted in his biography, many of the actions and occurances that happen to the narrator are directly out of Auster's life. It is intriguing to try and guess where reality ends and fantasy begins or vice versa.It's so tempting at this part of the review to want to fall into Auster's style and say something that is mid-way between the profane and the profound; and maybe I just did.

But who can say what is real and what is an illusion; Auster's book is not to be taken too literally, but it's not as superficial as you would expect on first glance.Make of it what you will.

If you read the other two NY Trilogy novels keep going!
If you read City of Glass and Ghosts, read The Locked Room. There is no point in stopping now, but do not expect anything to be cleared up.

Back when I read the New york Trilogy the books were sold seperately andtherefore I have so far reviewed each book under its single title. If youown this one, you probably bought it with the other two so you might aswell read it.

Remember, it will not answer any questions, but it isinteresting like the first two books of the NY Trilogy. ... Read more

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autobiographical essays ... Read more

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An introduction to the world of Paul Auster
The contents of 'Why Write?'are more or less the same as in 'The Red Notebook': a collection of very short stories in which coincidence plays a major role. It's of no importance whether the stories are true or not. Coincidence plays an important role in the works of Paul Auster. Maybe it's exagerated to say that, according to Paul Auster, life has little meaning, but the music of chance dominates our life whether we like it or not. You could consider 'Why Write?' as an introduction to the more
important works of Paul Auster.

Among books, the best 20 minute read I've had
This snappy, deceptive book grows on you when you piece together the real point of the 10 or so micro chapters (some are only a few paragraphs long)- human experience is by nature a series of surprises and the good writer revels in them.Fans of the film Smoke, script by the same author, will see how Auster's theory works: the story's structure consists of surprising turns of events as they thread through and are integrated by the imagination of the viewer.

Oh, the irony!
An appropriate question indeed for this talentless hack.Do the environment a favor: waste one less tree and DON'T buy this piece of crap.

a writer's journey
Since Mr. Auster only enjoys a cult following, it's only rarely that his fans get a chance to get a candid glimpse at him. So, without much more to say, "Why Write?" is his journey about how he became a writer. While not fascinating in the same way that William S. Burroughs became a writer, it's still nonetheless a fantastic read for aspiring writers. And, of course, for his fans ... Read more