The Invention of Solitude

From Paul Auster, author of the forthcoming 4 3 2 1: A Novel - his very first book, a moving and personal meditation on fatherhood

This debut work by New York Times-bestselling author Paul Auster (The New York Trilogy), a memoir, established Auster's reputation as a major new voice in American writing. His moving and personal meditation on fatherhood is split into two stylistically separate sections. In the first, Auster reflects on the memories of his father who was a distant, undemonstrative, and cold man who died an untimely death. As he sifts through his Father's things, Auster uncovers a sixty-year-old murder mystery that sheds light on his father's elusive character. In the second section, the perspective shifts and Auster begins to reflect on his own identity as a father by adopting the voice of a narrator, "A." Through a mosaic of images, coincidences, and associations "A," contemplates his separation from his son, his dying grandfather, turning the story into a self-conscious reflection on the process of writing.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Group
Published: 01/30/2007
ISBN: 9780143112228
Pages: 176
Weight: 0.33lbs
Size: 7.76h x 5.18w x 0.56d

Review Citations: New York Review of Books 12/04/2008 pg. 36