Renowned author Paul Auster, known for New York Trilogy and 4 3 2 1, passes away at 77 | Entertainment & Arts update
The US writer Paul Auster, known for acclaimed novels such as 4 3 2 1 and The New York Trilogy, has passed away at the age of 77.
Auster’s death was confirmed on Wednesday by his representatives, the Carol Mann Agency, which has not provided further details, although he was diagnosed with cancer in 2022.
Author of over 30 books, his work was translated into many languages and admired internationally – to the extent that he was named a chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 1991.
He was also a finalist for the Booker Prize and elected into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
“We are deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Booker Prize finalist Paul Auster, whose work resonated with readers and influenced writers worldwide, and whose generosity was widely felt,” The Booker Prizes shared on X.
Auster was born in Newark, New Jersey, to a middle-class Jewish family in 1947 and wrote in a short memoir that his sole ambition from the age of 16 had been to write.
Auster referred to writing as ‘a kind of illness’. Pic: Reuters
His aspirations would be severely tested after graduating from Columbia University, as Auster struggled for years before finding a publisher or earning income from his books.
He dabbled in poetry, translated French literature, worked on an oil tanker, attempted to market a baseball board game, and even considered making money by breeding worms in his basement.
His career also extended to film, directing Lulu on the Bridge in 1998 and The Inner Life of Martin Frost in 2007.
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In 2011, he expressed his preference for writing by hand in notebooks and then transferring the final copy to a typewriter, rather than a computer.
“I feel more alive when I’m working,” he added. “I am convinced that writing is a kind of illness.”
“Who would want to spend their life sitting in a room, putting words on paper? It’s a peculiar occupation. You have to have a great fondness for solitude.”
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In 1982, he married fellow author Siri Hustvedt and had a daughter, Sophie. He also had a son, Daniel, from a previous marriage to the author-translator Lydia Davis.
