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Staff Pick
Collected Prose: Autobiographical Writings, True Stories, Critical Essays, Prefaces, Collaborations with Artists, and Interviews

Collected Prose: Autobiographical Writings, True Stories, Critical Essays, Prefaces, Collaborations with Artists, and Interviews

Current price: $25.00
This product is not returnable.
Publication Date: June 22nd, 2010
Publisher:
Picador
ISBN:
9780312429928
Pages:
608
Usually Ships in 2 to 5 Days

Staff Reviews

Reading a Paul Auster story can be like meeting an incredibly compelling person on an airplane. You have no idea what to expect at first, and when the experience is over you feel you will probably recall the details of it for a long time to come. This is a great book to carry with you throughout the summer. The collection provides a wide variety of memorable pieces for many different moods.

— Tom

Description

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).

About the Author

Paul Auster is the bestselling author of 4 3 2 1, Sunset Park, Invisible, The Book of Illusions, and the New York Trilogy, among many other works. In 2006 he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature. Among his other honors are the Prix Médicis étranger for Leviathan, the Independent Spirit Award for the screenplay of Smoke, and the Premio Napoli for Sunset Park. In 2012, he was the first recipient of the NYC Literary Honors in the category of fiction. He has also been a finalist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (The Book of Illusions), the PEN/Faulkner Award (The Music of Chance), the Edgar Award (City of Glass), and the Man Booker Prize (4 3 2 1). He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His work has been translated into more than forty languages. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Praise for Collected Prose: Autobiographical Writings, True Stories, Critical Essays, Prefaces, Collaborations with Artists, and Interviews

“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)

“He is a remarkable writer whose work needs to be read in totality.” —The Sunday Herald (Scotland)

“One of America's leading novelists...The literary essays and prefaces in this collection are elegant and accessible.... Much of what is offered here displays his warmth, democratic instincts, and human concerns.” —Hilary Mantel, Daily Telegraph (London)

“Auster really does possess the wand of the enchanter.” —Michael Dirda, The New York Review of Books

“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. The hospitable, generous pieces make one want to go immediately to the writers he discusses.” —The Observer (London)