Paul Auster, Prolific American Writer and Filmmaker, Dies at 77

Auster was born in 1947 to Jewish parents in Newark, N.J. In an interview with the Guardian last year, he recalled a childhood incident when a boy standing next to him was killed by a lightning strike. “Being right next to a boy who was essentially murdered by the gods changed my whole view of the world,” he said. 

After graduating from Columbia University in 1970 and working several odd jobs (including an attempt at writing pornography which he abandoned because “I ran out of synonyms”), Auster moved to Paris for several years before returning to the U.S. where he made a living as a translator of French literature.

Auster wrote more than 30 books and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and voted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the AP said. 

“The Invention of Solitude,” a memoir that dealt with the death of his father, garnered favorable reviews upon its publication in 1982. He gained renown for the series of novels that would become the New York Trilogy. The series, comprising “City of Glass,” “Ghosts” and “The Locked Room,” is a postmodern take on detective fiction that examines existential themes of identity and knowledge.  

These themes would be explored in his subsequent fiction, particularly in “Moon Palace,” “Leviathan” and “Timbuktu,” the latter of which is told through the eyes of Mr. Bones, a dog struggling to deal with the fact that his master is dying. 

His 800-page novel “4 3 2 1,” published in 2017, was a finalist for the Booker Prize. 

Auster also wrote and directed several films. He collaborated with co-director Wayne Wang on the 1995 independent film “Smoke,” starring Harvey Keitel and William Hurt, about a Brooklyn smoke shop and its diverse clientele. Auster and Wang followed with a sequel, the largely improvised “Blue in the Face.” Auster’s own life was struck by tragedy in 2022 when his son Daniel from his first marriage to writer Lydia Davis died from a drug overdose after he was charged with the death of his 10-month-old daughter, Ruby. 

In 2023, Auster’s wife Siri Hustvedt revealed that her husband had been diagnosed with cancer. He published his final novel “Baumgartner,” last year.

Auster is survived by Hustvedt and their daughter Sophie. 

Write to James Leigh at james.leigh@wsj.com