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Paul Auster has died
- mdh 2y agoSad news. '4 3 2 1' is one of my favourite novels with its variations on a theme of a single person's life. The same character's showing up in each thread but in totally different contexts worked particularly well.
- cyberpunk 2y agoI absolutely hated that book. I think it's the first one I didn't finish in several years. I have no idea how it made the booker shortlist in 2017 :|
- igrekel 2y agoI'm actually in the middle of reading it.. I'm still struggling to follow it all, know in which variation I am at a point and see where it is going. But it is sure entertaining
- eszed 2y agoThe movie Smoke, which he wrote, is one of my favorites. I've enjoyed several of his novels, but none of those are among my personal canon, for what that's worth.
- finikytou 2y agoHe was for a moment quite popular and his books were definitely above the average overhyped populer american writer. Mr Vertigo was a nice little book that punched above its weight and would def recommend reading it
- john-tells-all 2y agoSeconded, Mr Vertigo was a charming story and a little dreamlike.
- browningstreet 2y agoIn college, I read all of the New York Trilogy at a coffee shop in one sitting, and it left me bent for the rest of the day. Good times. RIP.
- drewcoo 2y agoA wonderful example of postmodernism! And not in that disparaging sense that I can never quite understand.
- alephnerd 2y agoLoved his NY Trilogy. Sad to hear of his passing.
- neonate 2y agohttp://web.archive.org/web/20240501171727/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/30/books/paul-auster-dead.html http://web.archive.org/web/20240501171727/https://www.nytime...
- dang 2y agoRelated (but we merged the thread hither): Paul Auster: How I Became a Writer (2014) [video] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40221327 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40221327
- earlyriser 2y agoI'm guessing Paul Auster fans will comment here. 20 years ago I read a book that I cannot remember the name and I vaguely remember it was from Auster, but I'm not sure and I have been looking for ages. It was a compilation of short stories with the Noah's Ark somehow in each of them, but the stories were very different besides that part. Does this ring a bell?
- benjamoon 2y agoGPT: The book you're thinking of is likely "In the Country of Last Things" by Paul Auster. While not a collection of short stories, this novel often gets mentioned in relation to discussions about Auster's work involving themes of dystopia and allegorical narratives. The reference to Noah's Ark might be metaphorical, reflecting the themes of catastrophe and survival that are common in Auster's work. If you specifically remember a collection of short stories involving Noah's Ark, it could be another author or a less known work of Auster, as his major works don't typically revolve around this theme directly in the form of short stories. I’m not confident this is correct!
- kristianp 2y agoI have tried to use chatgpt to identify novels and songs from descriptions and it is poor at it. This is despite, I assume , ingesting reviews and descriptions of popular novels and even ingesting the novels themselves. Perhaps the training itself isn't enough for the model to be able to identify what work it is being trained on?
- be_kind 2y agoPossibly History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters by Julian Barnes? One of my favourites. Noah's Ark isn't in all of the short stories/essays, but does recur.
- earlyriser 2y agoYes, this is the one, thanks! One of your favourites from Barnes or in general? I really enjoyed, so I want to know which are your other favourites.
- moritzwarhier 2y agoHis books were half of what I read between age 12-25 (edit: more like 12-20, and I meant only novels, but it doesn't matter here) Sad to see him go. Picking up his books again as an adult only took away the magic in some of his weaker works. Mostly, the magic remained. The guys learning to play Bach and building a wall, the delirant anon in NYC chasing paper trails, the adolescent boy learning to levitate... the evil man offering glasses in a post-apocalyptic city: so many memories remain, I don't know much about Paul Auster but I can say he was an influence on my life. Because of randomness (a relative picking Mr Vertigo as a present for me, probably because of book-store recommendations) Paul Auster's characters always appear as somewhat mythical, living through a personal transformation. Many of his characters have an aura of NYC artist/cultural authority stick around then, but it does not bother me at all. Like many of my favorite authors, he injects much of his own personality into the main characters, even with multiple books using a novelist/writer as the main character.
- karaokeyoga 2y agoCan you recommend a first book?
- alberto_ol 2y agoMy favourite is "the invention of solitude", but it is not a novel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invention_of_Solitude https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invention_of_Solitude
- efrank02 2y agoThe New York trilogy was wonderful
- moritzwarhier 2y ago"Music of chance" I'd say, it's a good ride, easy to read, also showcases a lot of his qualities and has a place in my mind forever. Edit: "Moon palace" is similar in a way. I think those two left the biggest impression in me. They both are probably not the critique's favorites, but perfect as an intro I think. "Mr Vertigo" was my intro and I think it was a good one as well. "In the Country of Last Things" is also great, but a bit short for the story arc iirc. I read the New York trilogy relatively late but these are arguably his most well-received books and I enjoyed them a lot as well. The other books I mentioned he wrote later, if I'm not misremembering.
- rgrieselhuber 2y ago[flagged]
- ShamelessC 2y agoI guess people can’t handle that one of their favorite writers did something despicable. No need to downvote so much, just comes across like you’re trying to conceal the truth, which is that the guy supported a monster.
- rgrieselhuber 2y agoI was rather surprised at the number of downvotes pointing out that the guy supported an (alleged…) child rapist.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- CamperBob2 2y agoI'll undo one of your downvotes, I guess. I've never heard of this guy in my life, and I'm not exactly poorly-read. No idea what the connection with HN is.
- dredmorbius 2y ago<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38808985 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38808985>
- ShamelessC 2y agoIt’s not flamebait. There was no deliberate attempt to piss people off. That it happened to anyway is entirely the fault of those outraged. It’s a relevant fact. People just get insecure and then defensive when they find one of their favorite people did something stupid. Same thing happened with Michael Jackson whose music was evidently so good that no one really batted an eye at all the awful shit he probably did. Downvotes are a fine response. An irrational response, but an acceptable one. Indicating a rules violation amounts to attempting to censor a relevant and legitimate concern. It’s bizarre to me because I’m particularly cynical. Half my role models have been revealed to have done shitty things that make them retroactively feel counterfeit as a role model. It is strange to see people still clinging to the notion that a celebrity they relate with is also a perfect person who can do no wrong. Further, you’re allowed to appreciate that person’s art. Just don’t fixate too much on the person themselves. They’ll probably disappoint you.
- autoexec 2y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Auster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Auster
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- sharadov 2y agoHis entire genre of writing revolved around chance and coincidence and how big of a hand it played in one's life. I was captivated after reading Leviathan and could not stop till I read his entire pantheon. RIP Paul Auster.
- deviantbit 2y agoRIP. I enjoyed City of Glass, but Ghost and The Locked Room I found dull. Leviathan was good, it made me curious if he was the Unabomber.
- paulpauper 2y agowas a smoker. damn. gotta give up the habit while you can
- ktzar 2y agoI can thank him for having taught me his language, the intricacies of baseball, for having shown me corners in the state of New York unheard of outside the States. For having explained what love and passion are and aren't, for having instilled dreams and hopes. And most importantly, that life can be lived to its fullest at any age. A life worth living. Rest in peace, he will continue living while he's read.
- GBAdvanced 2y agoThe Music of Chance is one of my favorite books and is such an underappreciated book. Pick it up if you get a chance. Anyway it's sad to see him go. Rest in peace.
- ojosilva 2y agoMy sister was an Auster buff, she read nearly all of his books when she was around 19, I unfortunately didn't read a single one. But I did read True Tales of American Life, a compilation organized by Auster from NPR-compiled stories (the "National Story Project") of true Americana. That book is a gem I can recommend!