The Invention of Solitude

"A beautifully poetic work" -- Joyce Carol Oates

In his debut memoir, renowned author Paul Auster shares heartfelt and personal meditations on fatherhood that “integrates heart and intellect, sensation and speculation . . . as it relentlessly tries to make sense of the shocks of living” (Newsday)

“Moving, delicately perceived portraits of lives and relationships.”—The New York Times Book Review

“One day there is life. . . . And then, suddenly, it happens there is death.”

The Invention of Solitude, split into two stylistically separate sections, established Paul Auster’s reputation as a major voice in American literature. The first section, “Portrait of an Invisible Man,” explores Auster’s memories and feelings after the death of his father, a distant, undemonstrative, almost cold man. As… Keep Reading