Paul Auster

Paul Auster. Who is this man? And exactly what is his reputation?

I ask because I've just finished one of his more recent novels, the mournful tale of August Brill, Man in the Dark. About this book, let me record a few observations:

1. To the extent that the novel is basically divided into two stories, it is safe, I think, to say that while the second is moving, it is far less complex, far less compelling, than the first. Also, it must be noted that the connections between the first and second stories are somewhat distant, and thus the novel is not - what I, at least, would consider - balanced.

2. My feelings, my response, to Man in the Dark mirror those which accompanied my completion of City of Glass: that is, I just can't get into Auster's prose. I find them unremarkable, simple, sometimes careless. Sentence by sentence, as a lyricist, there's not much to get excited about, I don't think, when it comes to Auster...

3. And yet, when he gets going, especially in Man in the Dark, Auster probes that labyrinthine quality of our lives - and he does so in a manner reminiscent (yes, you got it) of Borges. High praise, I know, but he's (sometimes) worthy...

4. Ultimately: Despite the incongruities of this novel, its first one hundred pages do expose something profound - and while I lament Auster's use of language, his syntax, his style, I do reserve the final word for him:

"The story is about a man who must kill the person who created him, and why pretend that I am not that person? By putting myself into the story, the story becomes real. Or else I become unreal, yet one more figment of my own imagination..." (Picador ed., 102)