Three detective stories set in New York, tales of surveillance, obsession and identity. In the second story, all the characters are named for colours which gives it an unreal feel, even though all they have ordinary surnames such as Blue, White and Black rather than colours like Magenta, Aquamarine and Viridian. Paul Auster is mentioned in the first story and appears in the third, but is either of these the real Paul Auster? Probably not.

"The New York Trilogy" is meta-fiction - fiction that draws attention to its fictional status, in this case by the character names, the author's appearance between the covers of his own book, and the cross-over of other characters between the stories. They drag you out of the world of the story and back into real life, breaking the diegetic spell as it is called in film studies. Meta-fiction is usually seen as a postmodern literary device, but the first book that crossed my mind when I looked up the definition was "Tristram Shandy" which was written a tad earlier.

A good start to the A to Z Challenge.

This book is being passed on to Garibaldisghost who is doing the 1001 books challenge.

Gratefully received at yesterday's meet-up. This is book 219 on the list of 1001 books to read before you die.

Thangyerverymuch.

I read these as three separate books, with others read in between, over a 4 or 5 week period. I found the style hard going at first but by having that gap in between I guess they seemed to get more understandable and therefore more enjoyable as I went through.

Having seen k's comments describing the style of these stories as a 'post-modern literary device' and being evocative of Tristram Shandy perhaps I'll seek out that book (which I gave up on years ago) for another try.

Thanks for sharing.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

On its way Down Under to a fellow BookObsessed '1,001er'

That was a pretty fast trip! Thanks very much for this 1001 book, garibaldisghost. I haven't read any Paul Auster yet, so it will be doubly interesting.


Paul Auster's brilliant debut novels, City of Glass, Ghosts, and The Locked Room brought him international acclaim for his creation of a new genre, mixing elements of the standard detective fiction and postmodern fiction.City of Glass combines dark, Kafka-like humor with all the suspense of a Hitchcock film as a writer of detective stories becomes embroiled in a complex and puzzling series of events, beginning with a call from a stranger in the middle of the night asking for the author -- Paul Auster -- himself. Ghosts, the second volume of this interconnected trilogy, introduces Blue, a private detective hired to watch a man named Black, who, as he becomes intermeshed into a haunting and claustrophobic game of hide-and-seek, is lured into the very trap he has created.The final volume, The Locked Room, also begins with a mystery, told this time in the first-person narrative. The nameless hero journeys into the unknown as he attempts to reconstruct the past which he has experienced almost as a dream. Together these three fictions lead the listener on adventures that expand the mind as they entertain. "Auster harnesses the inquiring spirit any reader brings to a mystery, redirecting it from the grubby search for a wrongdoer to the more rarified search for the self." - - (New York Times Book Review)

My apologies for taking so long to get to this one. In the meanwhile I have read a number of Auster’s books, all of which I have enjoyed and appreciated. He is a truly gifted writer and is not afraid to treat the reader as an intelligent being and to take a few risks occasionally. His books are all surprisingly original, taking the reader on varied philosophical and psychological journeys as the plots unfold and making one think.

The New York Trilogy is a grouping of three cleverly connected short novels which ideally should be read in order. Auster uses some of the elements of standard detective fiction, but they are not detective stories. Strange and weird in a way but utterly compelling. It is difficult to outline the ‘plots’ without going into detail, but the NYT Review above gives a sort of general synopsis. The magic of Auster’s writing though, is the way he explores complex ideas and themes (such as identity, perception, language and writing, memory, and history etc) in such a way that is both engaging and thought provoking.

At times the book is confusing, and Auster definitely prefers the unresolved, but overall it is intriguing and an excellent read.

And it is on the 1001 list.

Chosen by Rach260 from Round 96 of the OZ VBB, so off in the post to the other side of the continent. Enjoy!

Received with thanks. I haven’t read any Auster yet (like crimson-tide when she first received this copy) so looking forward to this one.