Paul Auster died this Tuesday, April 30, in New York as a result of the lung cancer he suffered from, which he had reported a few months ago. He was 77 years old. Misfortune had overtaken him, as in one of his novels marked by bad luck, after first his granddaughter and then his son died in 2022. He was accused of the involuntary manslaughter of his 10-month-old baby, due to an overdose of heroin and fentanyl, and Daniel Auster himself died of an overdose at the age of 44, shortly after, while on parole.
Without a doubt one of the most well-known and respected American authors of recent decades, Paul Auster became known in the 1980s with his acclaimed 'New York Trilogy', books such as 'The Music of Chance', and later 'The book of illusions'. Despite coming from New Jersey, the writer became the great author of modern Brooklyn. An emblem for hipsters but also for specialized critics.
In Spain he was awarded the 2006 Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature “for the literary renewal he has carried out by uniting the best of North American and European traditions, innovating the cinematographic story and incorporating some of his contributions into literature.” Indeed, he was equally loved in Europe, receiving recognition especially in Paris, where he lived for a while.
In recent years, the launch of books, the prolific '4 3 2 1' (which proposes 4 lives for the same character) or the latest 'Baumgartner', had become quite an event. In this last novel he reviewed several decades through a writer and university professor who had lost his wife.
Paul Auster also made his first steps in theater or in the world of cinema, for example writing several scripts, including 'Smoke', the film starring William Hurt and Harvey Keitel that followed the lives of several characters in Brooklyn.
