I don't like talking about my work at all. I find it very difficult. I never know what to say. It's too close to me, and there's so many things happening unconsciously while I'm working that I'm not aware of, and people will point these things out to me, and I'll say, "That's interesting." But I don't know what to make of it.
Paul AusterThe most deeply personal of my works are the non-fiction works, the autobiographical works, because there, I'm talking about myself very directly.
Paul AusterIn the end, each life is no more than the sum of contingent facts, a chronicle of chance intersections, of ๏ฌukes, of random events that divulge nothing but their own lack of purpose.
Paul AusterMy wife is my first reader, my first line of defence I suppose. So she says, "Oh well, oh yes, it's all true." At the same time, I could have written much more about us, but I didn't want to go any further. I did cut things out. There are certain things that I wrote about her that are so gushing with praise and admiration that when I looked at those passages I realised they would be ridiculous to anybody else.
Paul AusterFor 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 AusterI thought, "Well, I'm writing about early childhood, so maybe it would make sense to write about late childhood as well, early adulthood." Those were my thoughts, and this was how this crazy book [Winter Journal] was composed. I've never seen a book with pictures like at the end, pictures related to things you've read before.
Paul Auster