Collected Prose - Autobiographical Writings, True Stories, Critical Essays, Prefaces, and Collaborations with Artists (Paperback, New ed.)

An essential collection from one of the finest thinkers and stylists in contemporary letters.
The celebrated author of "The New York Trilogy," "The Book of Illusions," and "Oracle Nigh"t presents here a highly personal collection of essays, prefaces, true stories, autobiographical writings, and collaborations with artists, as well as occasional pieces written for magazines and newspapers, including "The Invention of Solitud"e his "breathtaking memoir." ("Financial Times Magazine London")
Ranging in subject from Sir Walter Raleigh to Kafka, Nathaniel Hawthorne to the high-wire artist Philippe Petit, conceptual artist Sophie Calle to Auster's own typewriter, the World Trade Center catastrophe to his beloved New York City itself, "Collected Prose" records the passions and insights of a writer who "will be remembered as one of the great writers of our time" ("San Francisco Chronicle").
Paul Auster is the author of eleven novels, most recently "Oracle Night." His previous two novels, "The Book of Illusions" and "Timbuktu," were national bestsellers. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
The celebrated author of the "New York Trilogy," "The Book of Illusions," and "Oracle Night" presents a highly personal selection of his essays, prefaces, true stories, autobiographical writings, and collaborations with artists, as well as occasional pieces written for magazines and newspapers, including "The Invention of Solitude," his "breathtaking memoir" ("Financial Times Magazine," London).
Ranging in subject from Sir Walter Raleigh to Kafka, Nathaniel Hawthorne to the high-wire artist Philippe Petit, conceptual artist Sophie Calle to Auster's own typewriter, the World Trade Center catastrophe to his beloved New York City itself, "Collected Prose" records the passions and insights of a man who "will be remembered as one of the great writers of our time" ("San Francisco Chronicle").
"[Auster] has assembled his youthful [nonfiction] in one stout, handsome silo . . . Seeing the pieces together, you realize they are the work that allowed Auster to see himself as a Writer with a capital 'W.' It's rare these days for a novelist to admit to this desire without mocking it, which explains why Auster has remained the drug of choice for readers who once would have chosen Vonnegut. He read, he wrote, and he hungered. "Collected Prose" would feel like a tombstone to that time if [Auster] didn't do these things so fervently still."--John Freeman, "Dallas Morning News" "Auster's "Collected Prose" provides a fascinating long-exposure snapshot of a writer's private and abiding obsessions and touchstones as he oscillates between the worlds of his life and art."--"The Times" (London) "Absorbing . . . [Auster's] informed enthusiasms, especially for European modernism and aspects of the avant-garde, make him a passionate, intelligent, and stimulating commentator. He writes acutely about the dilemmas which inform serious artistic decisions. These hospitable, generous pieces make one want to go immediately to the writers he discusses."--Robert Potts, "The Guardian "(London) "[Paul Auster] has assembled his youthful [nonfiction] in one stout, handsome silo . . . The pieces [in "Collected Prose"] deserve this mid-career dais. Like fellow Brooklynites Jonathan Lethem and Colson Whitehead, Mr. Auster is a fanatic, but of an earlier generation. So while Mr. Lethem and Mr. Whitehead are specialists in comic books and television, Mr. Auster is head over heels for symbolist French poetry, New Wave cinema, and surrealist theatre. Whereas another writer might try to breathe such work to life with gusts of pretension, Mr. Auster approaches it slyly, through his own preoccupations. Mallarme's poetry comes alive through a story about the birth of his son; poet Laura Riding is defined by her long disappearance . . . Seeing the pieces together, you realize they are the work that allowed Mr. Auster to see himself as a Writer with a capital 'W.' It's rare these days for a novelist to admit to this desire without mocking it, which explains why Mr. Auster has remained the drug of choice for readers who once would have chosen Vonnegut. He read, he wrote, and he hungered. "Collected Prose" would feel like a tombstone to that time if [Auster] didn't do these things so fervently still."--John Freeman, "Dallas Morning News"