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Quote by Paul Auster

“I have to say in premise 'Winter Journal' is really not a memoir. And I don't even think of it as an autobiography. I think of it as a literary composition - similar to music - composed of autobiographical fragments. I'm really not telling the story of my life in a coherent narrative form.”

Quote by Paul Auster

Author

Paul Auster is an American author known for his unique narrative style and philosophical reflections. His works often explore themes of identity, memory, and reality, and have won him a wide audience. more

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“When the publisher here in America wanted to put the word "memoir" on the title page [of 'Winter Journal'] and on the cover, I said, "No, no, no, no, no, no." No genre whatsoever. It's an independent work not really connected to those things at all.”

Said Wanted America Pages Independent Winter Connected Memoir Titles Genre Journal Publishers

Author:Paul Auster

“Memoirs have dominated the literary scene now for ten or 20 or even 30 years: most of them seem to use the conventions of fiction and it's astonishing how in so many of these books people seem to be able to remember conversations that took place when they were five years old and give three pages of coherent dialogue, which is utterly impossible.”

People Giving Years Book Use Seems Able Remember Three Fiction Five Impossible Scene Ten Conversation Pages Memoir Dialogue Five Years Conventions Astonishing Five Year Olds

Author:Paul Auster

“It's beyond the grasp of anyone's memory to recall conversations in kind of [memoir] detail. So it's fake. It's all made up.”

Kind Made Memories Conversation Details Memoir Fake Recalls

Author:Paul Auster

“I do not repeat conversations that I can't remember. And it's something that irritates me a great deal, because I think most memoirs are false novels.”

Thinking I Can Remember Deals Novel Conversation Memoir Repeats

Author:Paul Auster

“I see myself as anybody, as everybody; I'm not just telling the story of my life to give the reader a picture of who I am.”

Giving Stories Reader Who I Am Story Of My Life

Author:Paul Auster

“I wanted to do something different. Therefore, the first person I thought would have been too exclusionary. It would have said me, me, me, me, me. I, I, I, I, I. As if I were pushing away my experiences from the experiences of others. Because basically what I was trying to do was show our commonality. I mean to say, in the very ordinariness of what I recount I think perhaps the reader will find resonances with his or her own life.”

Ifs Thinking Trying Firsts Mean Persons Has Beens Said Different Shows Wanted Reader Pushing First Person Resonance Commonality Ordinariness Pushing Away

Author:Paul Auster

“In a sense I am able to interrogate myself, address myself from that slight distance and enter a kind of dialogical relationship with myself. Because I'm saying, "Look, these are things that have happened to me, but how odd they are or how ordinary they are [is up to the reader to decide]."”

Looks Kind Able Happened Reader Ordinary Distance Odd Addresses

Author:Paul Auster

“I don't read reviews any more, but I'm told by my publisher who gives me an account of what people have been writing and it's been a very split kind of response.”

People Giving Writing Kind Has Beens Accounts Give Me Response Reviews Splits Publishers

Author:Paul Auster

“I'd go nuts. Because people look at the same passage and one person will say this is the best thing he's ever read, and another person will say it's absolutely idiotic. I mean, there's no way to reconcile those two things. You just have to forget the whole business of what people are saying.”

People Way Looks Mean Persons Two Whole Forget Best Things Two Things Passages Nuts Reconcile Idiotic

Author:Paul Auster

“I'm in constant inner dialogue with my father still.”

Stills Father Constant Dialogue

Author:Paul Auster