Paul Auster, Can You Tell Us the Story of America?

Paul Auster, one of the great American novelists, is our guest on
the fourth English-language episode of "Alles Gesagt?" ("Nuff
Said?"), ZEIT‘s never-ending podcast. Paul Auster is a film
director, a translator, and a writer of poems, screenplays and
essays. He had his breakthrough with his first memoir "The
Invention of Solitude" in 1982, which was followed by the
international bestseller "The New York Trilogy" between 1985 and
1986. He has published more than 30 books in over 40 languages,
with his latest novel, "4 3 2 1," appearing in 2017. Last year, he
compiled the collection "Groundwork: Autobiographical Writings." In
1995, Auster wrote the screenplay for the movie "Smoke," starring
Harvey Keitel, and co-directed the follow-up film "Blue in the
Face" featuring Harvey Keitel again, along with Michael J. Fox,
Madonna, Lou Reed and many more. The hosts of Alles Gesagt?,
Christoph Amend, ZEITmagazin‘s editorial director, and Jochen
Wegner, editor-in-chief of ZEIT ONLINE, both based in Berlin, met
with Paul Auster, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, via video call
on February 2, the day before his birthday. The episode was also
streamed live on ZEIT ONLINE. Paul Auster was born in Newark, New
Jersey in 1947. He graduated from Columbia University in New York
before moving to Paris in 1970. He returned to New York four years
later. In this episode of our podcast, Auster talks about the
history of the United States and its current political situation,
how he became a writer and his path to directing movies late in
life. He also tells the true story of a near-death experience as a
teenager that shaped the way he thinks about life. Auster explains
the magic of Laurel and Hardy‘s comedy and the magic of his
marriage to novelist and essayist Siri Hustvedt. The couple has
been married for 40 years and are each other‘s first readers. After
two hours and 31 minutes, Paul Auster ends the recording. Because
at "Alles Gesagt?" the conversation is only over when the guest
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