As my friend George Oppen once said to me about getting old: what a strange thing to happen to a little boy. Paul Auster More Quotes by Paul Auster More Quotes From Paul Auster What I'm trying to do [in Winter Journal] is to tell the story of a man's life from birth, but there are different versions of him, four different versions. Paul Auster winter trying men In Invisible there's a lot about childhood, the death of the brother and then the relationship between the brother and sister. Paul Auster brothers-and-sisters childhood brother I wrote Report from the Interior was that after I finished Winter Journal, I took a pause, and I realized there was more I wanted to say. Paul Auster i-realized wanted winter There is a line from the Marina Tsvetaeva poem I'm so fond of: "In this most Christian of worlds/ All poets are Jews." What she means is that writers and artists are outside the normal flow of daily life, the normal flow of society in general. Paul Auster artist christian mean [Lev] Tolstoy is not a boy-writer. He's a grown-up. And [Fedor] Doestoeivski is not a boy-writer. Paul Auster lev-tolstoy boys For one reason or another, I became a passionate reader when I was very little. As soon as I could read, I wanted to read. Paul Auster passionate reason littles I haven't done any translating for decades now. It's something I did when I was young. Paul Auster translate done young I never feel I'm standing on solid ground, and I do write with a certain kind of trembling fear. Paul Auster certain kind writing I don't even own a computer. I write by hand then I type it up on an old manual typewriter. But I cross out a lot - I'm not writing in stone tablets, it's just ink on paper. I don't feel comfortable without a pen or a pencil in my hand. I can't think with my fingers on the keyboard. Words are generated for me by gripping the pen, and pressing the point on the paper. Paul Auster typewriters writing thinking I am very scared at the beginning of each book, because I've never written it before. I feel I have to teach myself how to do it. Paul Auster teach scared book The tone of every book is slightly different; there's a music that each has that is distinct from all the others. Paul Auster tone different book When young people say I want to be a novelist, I'd say, think very carefully about it. There will be very few rewards, you probably won't make any money, you probably won't become famous, and you will spend your whole life locked up in a room by yourself worrying about how to survive. Paul Auster worry people thinking I think all writers are a bit crazy; Damaged souls, incapable of doing anything else. Paul Auster crazy soul thinking When I am writing, even though it's hard and I do struggle often, I am happier than when I'm not writing. I feel alive. Whereas when I'm not writing, I feel like your common every-day neurotic. Paul Auster alive struggle writing [Charles] Reznikoff was in between faiths, in between worlds... a double, hyphenated American. I think it probably goes deeper than that. Paul Auster deeper world thinking I feel that the act of writing, in and of itself, is a tool towards probing that which you wouldn't without that pen in your hand. It's a strange, almost neurological phenomenon, and the words seem to generate more words - but only when you're writing. You can't do it in your head. Paul Auster tools writing hands We're outsiders, and so when we walk through the city, we're there and not there at the same time, participating and observing simultaneously. Paul Auster outsiders walks cities I think people are trying out ideas with the new technology and it's too early to say where it's going exactly. But again, whether it's digital or paper, it doesn't matter. It's words that somebody is reading and getting an experience out of that reading. That's all that really matters. Paul Auster technology reading thinking All my novels are very much directly related to my inner life, even though I'm inventing characters, even though it's fiction, even though it's make-believe, it nevertheless is coming out of the deepest recesses of myself. Paul Auster character believe fiction I've found that writing novels is an all-absorbing experience - both physical and mental - and I have to do it every day in order to keep the rhythm, to keep myself focused on what I'm doing. Paul Auster found writing order
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