The acclaimed American writer Paul Austerauthor of a prolific work in which the “New York Trilogy”“Brooklyn Follies” or “The Invention of Solitude”, died this Tuesday at the age of 77.
As reported The New York Times, Auster’s death occurred at his home in Brooklynin New York, because of a lung cancer. He is survived by his wife, a daughter and a grandson.
Born into a Jewish family of Austrian descent in 1947 in Newark (New Jersey)Auster would later make Brooklyn his home and the setting for his novels, especially in the 1980s and 1990s.
He built in all his works literary labyrinths, like Russian dolls or matryoshkasin which he mixes fiction, reality and autobiography, and with which he captured millions of readers around the world.
In addition to novels, his prolific work translated into more than 40 languages includes poetry, stories, essays and theater and film scripts (some directed by him).
Auster studied at Columbia University – the epicenter of the current student protests against the war in Israel – and participated in the 1968 demonstrations against the Vietnam War.
After finishing university he settled in Paris, where according to New York Magazine the New York writer is a ‘rock star’.
He debuted as a writer in 1982 with “The Invention of Solitude”, which revolves around the sudden death of his father, but true fame would come to him with “New York Trilogy”a series of novels that includes “City of Glass”, “Ghosts” and “The Locked Room”.
Amid the concern of his millions of followers about his state of health in recent years, Auster published ‘Baumgartner’ in 2023. It is a book starring an eccentric and tender Philosophy professor immersed in pain over the loss of his great love. A story about chance, memory and grief from the New York author.
His life was recently affected by tragedy, when sHis son Daniel Auster, who was 44 years old, died of an overdose.
The writer’s son had been charged with the death of his 10-month-old daughter Ruby – granddaughter of Paul Auster. According to him, he had consumed heroin when he fell asleep and when the little girl woke up she was dead from fentanyl and heroin poisoning.
In 2006, the writer received the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature. In his speech he stated: “I have spent my life striking up conversations with people I have never seen, with people I will never meet, and I hope to continue doing so until the day I breathe my last breath.”
