Paul Auster is a well-known author who is known all over the world for his unique themes, which include absurdism, identity crisis, and existentialism. ‘The New York Trilogy,’ ‘Moon Palace,’ ‘The Music of Chance,’ ‘The Book of Illusions,’ and ‘The Brooklyn Follies’ are all very well-known works by him. He has become known as one of the most unique and original writers working today, and his works have been translated into more than thirty languages around the world. He is also a successful editor, poet, and writer of screenplays. He has also translated the works of many well-known French writers. He has also written moving personal memoirs and autobiographies, such as his first book, “The Invention of Solitude,” “Winter Journal,” and “Report From the Interior,” his most recent book. Besides writing books and poems, he has also written the words to a lot of songs, such as “Natty Man Blues.” He has also directed movies that have won awards. Because of all of these things, he has been called one of the most successful and talented people in the field of writing. Scroll down and keep reading this biography to find out more interesting things about his childhood, personal life, and work.
Early years and childhood
Paul Benjamin Auster was born in Newark, New Jersey, to Queenie and Samuel Auster, who were Jewish and from a middle-class family.
He grew up in the suburbs of South Orange, New Jersey, and Newark, New Jersey. He went to high school at Columbia High School in Maplewood.
After getting his degree from Columbia University in 1970, he moved to Paris and started working as a translator of French literature.
In 1974, he moved back to the United States and started writing essays, poems, and novels. He also translated the works of many famous French writers.
Paul Auster’s Career
One of the books he wrote under the name Paul Benjamin came out in 1982. It was called “Squeeze Play.”
The publishing house Faber & Faber put out a set of three mystery books by him called “The New York Trilogy” in 1987. His book “In the Country of Last Things” came out the same year.
In 1989, the book “Moon Palace,” which is set in Manhattan, New York, came out. His 1990 mystery book, “The Music of Chance,” was published by the Viking Press. It is in a genre called “absurdist novels,” which are about “random events” and “the meaninglessness of the universe.”
The Viking Press put out his crime novel “Leviathan” in 1992. The book was later turned into an audiobook that was sold on the website Audible.com. He wrote the script for the movie version of his book “The Music of Chance” the following year. That year, the movie was shown at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 1995, he wrote the script for the Oscar-winning American movie Smoke, which he and Wayne Wang also directed. In the same year, he also wrote and directed the movie “Blue in the Face.”
The Henry Holt publishing house put out his book, “The Book of Illusions,” in 2002. It was based on the life of a university professor. Also in that year, “The Story of My Typewriter” came out.
In 2005, his book, “The Brooklyn Follies,” came out from Henry Holt and Co. In 2008, his book “Man in the Dark,” which was about the presidential elections of 2000, came out.
In 2009, his book “Invisible,” which is a collection of four short stories that all fit together to make one long story, came out.
In 2010, Henry Holt and Co. published his book “Sunset Park,” which was about the recession in the United States.
The Viking Press put out a book called “Here and Now: Letters (2008–2011)” in 2013 that was a collection of letters that he and South African author J. M. Coetzee wrote to each other.
Works of note
His book “The New York Trilogy,” which came out in 1987, was a big hit and won the Prix France Culture de Littérature trangère award.
He wrote and directed the movie Smoke, which won the Silver Bear at the 45th Berlin International Film Festival, the Danish Film Critics’ Bodil Award for Best American Film, and the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay.
Awards & Achievements
In 1990, the American Academy of Arts and Letters gave him a prize called the Morton Dauwen Zabel Award.
The John William Corrington Award for Literary Excellence was given to him in 1996.
In 2003, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences chose him as a Fellow.
The Prince of Asturias Award for Literature was given to him in 2006.
In 2006, he was chosen to be a member of the Literature branch of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Personal History and Legacies
In 1974, he married Lydia Davis, but the marriage didn’t last long, and the two later split up. Together, they had a child.
He married Siri Hustvedt in 1981, and the two of them have a child.
“Report From the Interior,” one of his autobiographical works, came out in 2013.
Estimated Net worth
American writer and director Paul Auster has a net worth of $20 million. Paul Auster was born in February 1947 in Newark, NJ. Paul got his degree from Columbia University and then moved to Paris to study French literature.
Trivia
This well-known American author and screenwriter is so worried about cleanliness that he always travels with his own set of cutlery.