The book of illusions

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Book of Illusions (Engl .: The Book of Illusions ) is a novel by Paul Auster from the year 2002 .

action

The novel is set in the 1980s. It is told from David Zimmer's point of view . Zimmer, a university professor, loses his wife and children in a plane crash and falls into a deep depression .

After seeing silent films by Hector Mann , an actor missing since the 1920s, he becomes obsessed with the idea of ​​seeing all of those films and publishing a book on Mann. This in turn leads to further events that lead Zimmer further and further into Mann's past.

The sudden disappearance of Hector Mann, who was never seen again after the appearance of the 12 films, is puzzling. It is all the more astonishing that after the publication of the book, an invitation from Mrs. Hector Mann suddenly comes in by mail to meet her husband in New Mexico and to learn something about him.

One evening Alma Grund shows up at Zimmer with a loaded pistol. She wants to convince him that he just has to come because Hector is about to die and all films that Hector Mann made under a different name after his silent film episode would be destroyed 24 hours after his death. After dramatic scenes that ultimately bring Zimmer and Grund closer together, they both fly to New Mexico. Alma, who is writing the biography of Hector Mann, tells of Mann's life throughout the journey. Shortly after Zimmer had just met Mann for the first time, Mann dies and his wife sets to work almost immediately to destroy everything that could somehow point to Hector Mann. There is still time to see a movie.

There is nothing left for Zimmer to do; he returns to prepare the move in for Alma Grund, who has some work to do beforehand. Amid a difference of opinion between Alma and Hector's wife, Hector falls and dies; Alma faxes Zimmer that she cannot live with this guilt and takes her own life.

Relationships with other works

This novel was published in 2002 and, like other books by Auster, describes a type of man, shaken by crises and ready for the task, who is brought back to life by chance. Hector Mann's life also ends suddenly after a stroke of fate. Although not directly brought about by himself, Hector feels the rest of his life, which is characterized by great tragedy and complete loneliness, guilty of what happened. This guilt makes it impossible for him to go back to normal life and make films again. Only through a compromise, namely by completely avoiding any public, is it possible for him to make films again.

David Zimmer is Marco Stanley Fogg's roommate from Oyster 's novel Moon over Manhattan . Often in the book we leave the level of David Zimmer and move on to that of Hector Mann, in whose life there are also episodes of other people, so that it is often not clear who the real protagonist is, especially since David Zimmer is like Paul Auster is an author and how he was born in 1947.

The book refers directly to the autobiography of François-René de Chateaubriand , Memoires d'outre-tombe .

International Standard Book Number