Paul Auster | Winter Journal
Recorded 9/13/2012
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Paul Auster reenergized contemporary experimental literature with his 1986 New York Trilogy, a trio of postmodern, labyrinthine meta-detective novellas where "each detail, each small revelation must be attended to as significant. And such attention brings ambiguity, confusion, and paranoia" (New York Times Book Review). Most of his work focuses on the philosophical paradoxes of self-invention and spiritual doubt, and "his characters constantly stress the force of the word set free" (Guardian). He is the author of nearly 20 novels, as well as several poetry collections, screenplays, essays, memoirs, and translations. Auster debuted in 1982 with The Invention of Solitude, a memoir about fatherhood and the solitary nature of writing. Thirty years later, Winter Journal is a moving meditation on the body, time, and language.