Collected Prose

An updated edition with six new essays, including "An Evening at Shea" and "Remembering Beckett," as well as two long interviews from "one of America's greats" ("Time Out Chicago") The celebrated author of "Invisible," "The New York Trilogy," and "The Book of Illusions "presents a highly personal collection of essays, prefaces, true stories, autobiographical writings (including the seminal work "The Invention of Solitude"), and collaborations with artists, as well as occasional pieces written for magazines and newspapers. 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 really does possess the want of the enchanter."--"The New York Review of Books""" " Auster] will be remembered as one of the great writers of our time."--"San Francisco Chronicle" "The literary essays and prefaces in this collection are elegant and accessible . . . Much of what is offered here displays Auster's warmth, democratic instincts, and human concerns."--Hilary Mantel, "Daily Telegraph" (London) "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

"TABLE OF CONTENTS THE INVENTION OF SOLITUDE
HAND TO MOUTH
TRUE STORIES
The Red Notebook
Why Write?
Accident Report
It Don't Mean a Thing
GOTHAM HANDBOOK
THE STORY OF MY TYPEWRITER
NORTHERN LIGHTS
Pages for Kafka
The Death of Sir Walter Raleigh
Northern Lights
CRITICAL ESSAYS
The Art of Hunger
New York Babel
Dada Bones
Truth, Beauty, Silence
From Cakes to Scones
The Poetry of Exile
Innocence and Memory
Book of the Dead
Reznikoff x2
The Bartlebooth Follies
PREFACES
Jacques Dupin
Andre du Bouchet
Black on White
Twentieth-Century French Poetry
Mallarme's Son
On the High Wire
Translator's Note
The National Story Project
A Little Anthology of Surrealist Poems
The Art of Worry
Invisible Joubert
Hawthorne at Home
OCCASIONS
A Prayer for Salman Rushdie
Appeal to the Governor of Pennsylvania
The Best Substitute for War
Reflections on a Cardboard Box
Random Notes: September 11--2001--4:00 PM
Underground
NYC = USA
REFERENCES