Paul Auster

It’s weird to me that all the obits describe him as the literary avatar of Brooklyn. I’ve only read a handful of his books but Brooklyn as setting or theme is not something that I would point to.

It’s kind of superficial, but I think Smoke and Blue in the Face, combined with his physical presence in Park Slope, tie him to Brooklyn. I mean, Blue in the Face was practically a tourism-board sponsored film, emerging at the same time as Brooklyn Brewing and the rise of Williamsburg and all those things that made it acceptable for a maturing consumer to live there.

I’ve never heard of those movies but that makes sense.

I don't remember much about Music of Chance (something to do with trimming hedges, or I might be getting it confused with The Restraint of Beasts?) but I definitely remember the brutal ending.

New York Stories is "a good one, a boring one, a confusing one"

Ah OK now I get some of the IG stories I was seeing last night. I'm still so angry at his son. Sucks though. RIP.

Never specifically thought of him as Brooklyn, more just NYC. When I think Brooklyn writers, I think Jonathan Lethem.

Anyway, RIP. In my college and post-college years, Auster loomed very large for me. I eventually found him a bit repetitive, but City of Glass remains all time for me. I should reread.