Paul Auster, Farewell to the Giant of the Word. From the New York Trilogy to the fight against cancer

A true literary giant. American novelist Paul Auster, a prolific and much-loved writer, author of the “New York Trilogy,” perhaps his most famous work, has died at the age of 77. Oster died of complications from lung cancer, which he had been suffering from since 2022, a phase of his life he called “cancer land.” The New York Times reported the news. Auster died at his home in Brooklyn, we read in the newspaper, citing a friend of the writer, Jackie Layden.

Auster was born in Newark, in the same New Jersey that produced another contemporary giant like Philip Roth, on February 3, 1947, to Jewish parents originally from Eastern Europe. His most famous works, in addition to the New York Trilogy, include City of Glass, Moon Palace, Chance Music, Mr. Vertigo, Brooklyn New Groove and 4 3 2 1. In 1995, he achieved great fame in cinema thanks to the collaboration with Wayne Wang for Smoke and its sequel Blue in the Face. In 1998 he directed Lulu on the Bridge, starring Willem Dafoe and Harvey Keitel.

The hero of American postmodern literature, in collaboration with his friends Thomas Pynchon and Don DeLillo, was able to describe the loneliness, pain and neurosis experienced by today's man, searching for the identity and meaning of his existence. After studying at Columbia University, in 1970 Auster went to Paris where he worked as a translator until his return to New York in 1974. His literary debut was poems and short stories published in the New York Review of Books and in Harper's Saturday. ' review'. His most recent novel, “Baumgartner,” was published in 2023, coinciding with the announcement of his illness. His works have been published in Italy by Einaudi.