Edinburgh audience loves the real ‘voice’ of author Paul Auster
Paul Auster takes the stage at the King’s Theatre in Edinburgh to a great reception. He reads the opening pages of his latest work 4321, which is long-listed for the Man Booker Prize. It is a rare chance for his fans to see and hear the novelist up close and personal. The 70-year-old graciously relates stories from his life as a writer in discussion with fellow American writer Nora Chassler. Early on, he talks about growing up in a bookless household. At the age of nine, Auster got around this by visiting the public library, coming home with works by Robert Louis Stevenson and Edgar Allan Poe. By his teens, he explains, he knew the writer’s life would be a struggle. His concerned father suggested he become a professor and write poetry as a hobby. Auster attended a PhD interview, but fortunately, a perceptive professor told him not to become an academic as he had talent as a writer. You sense being a professor of literature would have been a terrible failure for Auster. He seems to a...
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