Washington, May 1 (EFE).- Acclaimed American novelist Paul Auster, author of a prolific work including the “New York Trilogy,” “Brooklyn Follies,” and “The Invention of Solitude,” has passed away at the age of 77.
Auster passed away on Tuesday at his home in Brooklyn, New York, due to lung cancer. He is survived by his wife, a daughter, and a grandson.
Born into a Jewish family of Austrian descent in 1947 in Newark, New Jersey, Auster later made Brooklyn his home and the setting for his novels, especially in the 1980s and 1990s.
He constructed literary mazes in all his works, akin to Russian nesting dolls, blending fiction, reality, and autobiography to captivate millions of readers worldwide.
His prolific body of work translated into over 40 languages includes poetry, short stories, essays, theater, and film scripts, some of which he directed.
Auster studied at Columbia University, the epicenter of current student protests against the Israeli war in Gaza. He participated in the 1968 demonstrations against the Vietnam War.
After college, he settled in Paris, where according to the New York Magazine, the writer was a “rock star.”
He made his debut as a writer in 1982 with “The Invention of Solitude,” revolving around the sudden death of his father.
But his true fame came with the “New York Trilogy,” a series of novels comprising “City of Glass,” “Ghosts,” and “The Locked Room.”
Amid concerns about his health in recent years, American Paul Auster published “Baumgartner” in 2023.
It features an eccentric and tender Philosophy professor plunged into grief over the loss of his love. A story about chance, memory, and mourning by the New York author.
His life was recently affected by tragedy when his 44-year-old son Daniel Auster died of an overdose.
The writer’s son had been charged with the death of his daughter Ruby, aged 10 months.
He claimed to have consumed heroin and fallen asleep, only to wake up to find the little girl dead from fentanyl and heroin intoxication.
In 2006, the writer received the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature.
“I have spent my life in conversations with people I have never seen, with people I will never know, and I hope to continue until the day I stop breathing,” he said in his speech then. EFE”
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