The Invention of Solitude

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Paul Auster

Penguin, New York, 2007, 1982, English

Nonfiction, General

7.6 x 5 inches, paperback, 192 pages

ISBN: 9780143112228

Suggested Retail Price: $15.00

A personal meditation on fatherhood. The first section, "Portrait of an Invisible Man," reveals Auster’s memories and feelings after the death of his father, a distant, undemonstrative, almost cold man. As he attends to his father's business affairs and sifts through his effects, Auster uncovers a sixty-year-old family murder mystery that sheds light on his father's elusive character. In "The Book of Memory," the perspective shifts from Auster's identity as son to his role as father. Through a mosaic of images, coincidences, and associations, the narrator, "A," contemplates his separation from his son, his dying grandfather, and the solitary nature of storytelling and writing.

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Mikko Heikkinen

On Mikko Heikkinen’s Book List

Includes “Portrait of an Invisible Man” and “The Book of Memory.” For me, these two essays are about memory, solitude, and imagination. Sitting at your white table, with an empty piece of paper or a blank screen in front of you is familiar to all architects. It is your memory and your imagination that paradoxically are the way out from your solitude to other people.

When I was asked to comment on my favorite Auster, I had to search for the book before I could hold it in my hands again after so many years. I found it with many yellow post-its attached to its pages on which were notes handwritten by my wife, who died of cancer two years ago. I read the selected pages and her short comments, like ”the difficulty of writing + slowness + wound.” I was seeing her reading this book, her right hand making an effort to write on the small pieces of paper, her thoughtful eyes....

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