"Baumgartner": New book by US bestselling author Paul Auster
Paul Auster has published tirelessly over the past few years: in 2017, the 1000+ page novel "4 3 2 1", in 2021 the 800+ page biography of US author Stephen Crane (1871-1900), "In Flames", and a few smaller works in between. The bestselling author, celebrated by the New York Times as the "champion of American postmodernism", doesn't seem to be slowing down - even though, according to his wife and fellow author Siri Hustvedt, the 76-year-old has been battling cancer for several months.
His latest novel has now been published: "Baumgartner". At only around 200 pages, the work is considerably slimmer than some of its predecessors - and has a much more nostalgic undertone. It is about the ageing philosophy professor Sy Baumgartner, whose wife drowned a few years ago. Baumgartner remembers their time together and also his childhood, while at the same time having to find his way in a world without his beloved wife.
"Lovable aimlessness"
Auster's language is simple and full of compassion - and some aspects of the story are reminiscent of his own, that of another over-70-year-old from Newark in the US state of New Jersey.
Initial reviews have been positive. The novel is "funny and melancholy", wrote the Los Angeles Times. Auster has packed less of his usual "postmodern fireworks" into it and this has done the book good. "Baumgartner" begins with a "turbo kick-start", praised the British "Guardian", but ultimately his "journey has no destination", even if it is "endearing aimlessness".
Auster: "Writing is a question of survival"
According to the US publisher, this is the 18th book by the award-winning author, who writes all of his works without a computer. "I write by hand and then type it up on a typewriter, I always use it and it's indestructible," Auster once told the German Press Agency. The results include novels, non-fiction books, poetry, essays and film scripts - and they have made Auster, born in 1947 to Jewish immigrants, one of the most popular and successful US writers of his generation.
He made his breakthrough in the mid-1980s with the "New York Trilogy", after which he worked his way up to become a celebrated bestselling author with novels such as "Moon Over Manhattan", "Mr. Vertigo" and "The Book of Illusions". His books have been translated into dozens of languages, and he is even more popular in Europe than in his own country. He is still "obsessed" with writing, says Auster. "For me, writing is not an act of free will, it's a question of survival."
Source: www.dpa.com
