A Little Anthology of Surrealist Poems: A Little Anthology of Surrealist Poems, edited and translated by Paul Auster. Minneapolis: Rain Taxi, 2002. Note: New preface for collection originally published in 1972.
The Art of Worry: Catalogue preface for Art Spiegelman exhibition, Nuage Gallery, Brescia, Italy, 2003.
Hawthorne at Home: Nathaniel Hawthorne: Twenty Days with Julian & Little Bunny, by Papa. New York: New York Review Books, 2003.
Night on Earth: New York: Night on Earth, a Film by Jim Jarmusch. New York, The Criterion Collection, 2007.
Joe Brainard: The Collected Writings of Joe Brainard, edited by Ron Padgett. New York: The Library of America, 2012.
A Life in Art: Dear Mr. Beckett (The Samuel Beckett File), by Barney Rosset, edited by Lois Oppenheim, curated by Astrid Myers Rosset. Tuxedo Park, NY: OPUS, 2017.
OCCASIONS
A Prayer for Salman Rushdie: Op-ed piece: The New York Times, June 18, 1993.
Appeal to the Governor of Pennsylvania: Delivered during a press conference at the PEN American Center, New York, on July 28, 1995. Other participants included Dennis Brutus, Thulani Davis, Cornelius Eady, and William Styron.
The Best Substitute for War: An abbreviated version appeared in The New York Times Magazine, April 1999, in response to the question: What is the best game of the millennium?
Banned British Art in New York: Delivered during a protest rally in front of the Brooklyn Museum, October 1, 1999.
Reflections on a Cardboard Box: Written at the request of the New York Coalition for the Homeless—for a brochure that was never published. Limited edition subsequently published by The Perishable Press Limited (Mount Horen, WI) in 2004.
Random Notes—September 11, 2001—4:00 PM: Commissioned by Die Zeit (Germany); published September 13, 2001.
Underground: The New York Times Magazine, October 2001. In answer to the request: Describe something about New York that you love.
“NYC = USA”: Op-ed piece: The New York Times, September 9, 2002.
“Columbia: 1968”: Op-ed piece: The New York Times, April 23, 2008.
TALKING TO STRANGERS
Speech delivered in Oviedo, Spain, October 2006. Published in The Observer of London, November 4, 2006.
ALSO BY PAUL AUSTER
NOVELS
The New York Trilogy (City of Glass, Ghosts, & The Locked Room)
In the Country of Last Things
Moon Palace
The Music of Chance
Leviathan
Mr. Vertigo
Timbuktu
The Book of Illusions
Oracle Night
The Brooklyn Follies
Day/Night (Travels in the Scriptorium & Man in the Dark)
Invisible
Sunset Park
4 3 2 1
NONFICTION
The Invention of Solitude
Hand to Mouth
Winter Journal
Here and Now (with J. M. Coetzee)
Report from the Interior
A Life in Words (with I. B. Siegumfeldt)
SCREENPLAYS
Three Films: Smoke, Blue in the Face, Lulu on the Bridge
The Inner Life of Martin Frost
POETRY
Collected Poems
ILLUSTRATED BOOKS
The Story of My Typewriter (with Sam Messer)
Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story (with Isol)
City of Glass (adapted by Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli)
EDITOR
The Random House Book of Twentieth-Century French Poetry
I Thought My Father Was God and Other True Tales from NPR’s National Story Project
Samuel Beckett: The Grove Centenary Edition
About the Author
PAUL AUSTER is the bestselling author of 4 3 2 1, Sunset Park, Invisible, The Book of Illusions, and The New York Trilogy, among many other works. In 2006 he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature. Among his other honors are the Prix Médicis étranger for Leviathan, the Independent Spirit Award for the screenplay of Smoke, and the Premio Napoli for Sunset Park. In 2012, he was the first recipient of the NYC Literary Honors in the category of fiction. He has also been a finalist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (The Book of Illusions), the PEN/Faulkner Award (The Music of Chance), the Edgar Award (City of Glass), and the Man Booker Prize (4 3 2 1). He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His work has been translated into more than forty languages. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
NOTES FROM A COMPOSITION BOOK
THE ART OF HUNGER
The Art of Hunger
New York Babel
Dada Bones
Ideas and Things
From Cakes to Stones
The Poetry of Exile
Innocence and Memory
Book of the Dead
Kafka’s Letters
Reznikoff × 2
The Bartlebooth Follies
POE’S BONES & OPPEN’S PIPE
I
II
THE STORY OF MY TYPEWRITER
ODD JOBS
Answer to a Question from New York Magazine
Twenty-Five Sentences Containing the Words Charles Bernstein
Gotham Handbook
Postcards for Georges Perec
Remembering Beckett
By the Book
PREFACES
Twentieth-Century French Poetry
Mallarmé’s Son
On the High Wire
Translator’s Note
An Evening at Shea
The National Story Project
A Little Anthology of Surrealist Poems
The Art of Worry
Hawthorne at Home
Night on Earth: New York
Joe Brainard
A Life in Art
OCCASIONS
A Prayer for Salman Rushdie
Appeal to the Governor of Pennsylvania
The Best Substitute for War
Banned British Art in New York
Random Notes—September 11, 2001—4:00 PM
Underground
NYC = USA
Columbia: 1968
TALKING TO STRANGERS
NOTES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ALSO BY PAUL AUSTER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
COPYRIGHT
TALKING TO STRANGERS. Copyright © 2003, 2010, 2019 by Paul Auster. All rights reserved. For information, address Picador, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
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Typewriter Paintings © 2002 by Sam Messer
Kiss and Make Up © 1993 by Art Spiegelman
For further copyright information, see the Acknowledgments section.
Cover design based on Henry Sene Yee’s original series concept.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: Auster, Paul, 1947– author.
Title: Talking to strangers: selected essays, prefaces, and other writings, 1967–20
17 / Paul Auster.
Description: Third edition. | New York: Picador, Henry Holt and Company, 2019. | Previous editions have title: Collected prose: autobiographical writings, true stories, critical essays, prefaces, and collaborations with artists. | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019002629 | ISBN 9781250206299 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781250206305 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Auster, Paul, 1947– | American essays.
Classification: LCC PS3551.U77 A6 2019 | DDC 813สน.54—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019002629
eISBN 9781250206305
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First Edition: May 2019