Culture
American writer Paul Auster dies at 77
The famous writer died at his home in Brooklyn due to lung cancer
May 1, 2024 4:07pm
Updated: May 2, 2024 9:40am
Acclaimed American novelist Paul Auster, whose prolific works include “The New York Trilogy,” “Brooklyn Follies” and “The Invention of Solitude,” died this Tuesday in his home at the age of 77 as a result of lung cancer, according to The New York Times.
Born into a Jewish family of Austrian descent in 1947, in Newark, Auster would later make Brooklyn his home and the setting for his novels, especially in the 1980s and 1990s.
In all his works, the acclaimed author built literary labyrinths, like Russian dolls or matryoshkas, in which fiction, reality and autobiography are mixed, 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 and, after finishing university, settled in Paris, where, according to New York Magazine, the New York writer was a 'rock star'.
He debuted as a writer in 1982 with The Invention of Solitude, a novel that revolves around the sudden death of his father, but true fame would come with the New York Trilogy, a series of novels that includes City of Glass, Ghosts and The Room. closed.
Amid the concern of his millions of followers about his state of health in recent years, the American Paul Auster published Baumgartner in 2023.
In the work the protagonist is an eccentric and tender Philosophy professor immersed in pain over the loss of his great love, a story about chance, memory and mourning by the New York author.
Auster’s life was struck by tragedy when his 44-year old son, Daniel, recently died of a drug overdose.
The writer's son charged dramatically in 2022 with the death of his 10-month-old daughter Ruby. According to Auster’s son, he had consumed heroin when he fell asleep and, when he woke up, he found the little girl 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.”
Auster is survived by his wife, a daughter and a grandson.
