The exquisite chapter of domestic accidents that opens Paul Auster’s final novel, Baumgartner, leaves us with a microcosm of all that drew a worldwide, discerning readership to this super-abundantly gifted, big-hearted novelist: a limpid present tense; a subtle awareness, comic as well as tragic, of what Virgil identified as “” – there are tears in the nature of things – which, in Paul’s version, proposed pratfalls as well as death; a perfect expression of a hovering consciousness in the still...
In person, and on the page, Paul was a natural raconteur. Few writers I’ve ever known could command his appearance with such a spell-binding grasp of an audience. Even fewer possessed his mastery of voice and story, a universal gift: in America, he was an uber-cool easterner; in France, half French; in Britain, the face of a certain avant garde.
I can hardly believe that he is now in their company. America and the world has lost a passionate, gentle, wise, and noble soul, a literary voice for the ages.On 19 August 2022, Paul Auster gathered with a dozen other writers for a PEN event in support of Salman Rushdie, who had been viciously stabbed a week earlier.
And Paul himself was quite extraordinary. His laugh wasn’t just explosive, it was embracing. Those dark eyes were often described as, and indeed they were, but they also worked as umbrellas. Come in under here. Stand a moment with me. Let’s watch the rain and maybe even make sense of it.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: GuardianAus - 🏆 1. / 98 Read more »
Source: GuardianAus - 🏆 1. / 98 Read more »
Source: abcnews - 🏆 5. / 83 Read more »
Source: newscomauHQ - 🏆 9. / 77 Read more »
Source: 7NewsSydney - 🏆 16. / 63 Read more »
Source: 9NewsAUS - 🏆 10. / 72 Read more »