Auster On Fire

Paul Auster: metaphysical poseur, or impossibly cool and zeitgeist-attuned?

While the jury debates that one, the so-called Bard of Brooklyn seems to have hit a hot streak. There was his involvement with National Public Radio's National Story Project in 2001; The Book of Illusions in 2002; Oracle Night in 2003; and now, there's another book on its way, entitled The Brooklyn Follies.

As he says in a telephonic conversation with the Buffalo News: "This is a very fertile time for me. I've got this tremendous urge to do things. I feel like I'm on fire."

He continues: "You certainly can't write with the idea of making money or achieving some kind of glory in the world. You do it because you have to.No matter how much success you have, you always face the same anxieties....Whatever I've accomplished in the past means nothing when I sit down to write a new book. It never gets easy to write and if it were easy, there would be no enjoyment. It's the struggle that makes writing worthwhile."

Rats.