A life in words

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Book page signed by Paul Auster in the interview collection A Life in Words (2017)

A life in words is a book by Paul Auster from 2017 that includes “A conversation with Inge Birgitte Siegumfeldt” (so the subtitle). Siegumfeldt is professor of contemporary literature and literary theory at the University of Copenhagen . The original title is A Life in Words. Conversation with IB Siegumfeldt and was published by Seven Stories Press in New York City 2017. The translation into German was done by the translator of numerous other books by Auster, Werner Schmitz , together with Silvia Morawetz . The documented conversations took place between 2011 and 2013 and also include the Winter Journal and Internal Report , which were available in manuscript at the time .

In the book, Siegumfeldt and Auster talk about his books, in part one about the autobiographical works, in part two about his previous 16 novels (not about the parallel published novel 4 3 2 1 and the detective story Squeeze Play , which was published under the pseudonym Paul Benjamin appeared). The books are discussed in the two parts in the order in which they were published. Recurring references to autobiographical references to the novels are given.

criticism

Burkhard Müller wrote in the Süddeutsche Zeitung : “There is little surprising result; On the one hand, because Siegumfeldt is too enthusiastic about her author, on the other hand, because Auster is also strongly philologically inclined (and too polite). ”“ The best are the quotes from Auster's books, which not only the interviewer, but also the author always ready. "

Sascha Weiler emphasizes on literaturkritik.de that “new interpretive possibilities are to be discovered”, but more in the first part, which deals with the autobiographical writings, than with the novels, where Weiler criticizes that readers without extensive textual knowledge of the individual books get little benefit pull the conversation. "Even so, the very fact that this book has been published is a significant reason to be pleased."

Quotes

“Accidents can irreversibly destroy health, well-being, even mental powers. Any random movement, a split second - and you're dead. That worries me a lot. "

expenditure

A Life in Words. In Conversation with IBSiegumfeldt . Seven Stories Press, New York, London 2017 (304 pages), ISBN 978-1-609-80710-8

  • Translation: A life in words. A conversation with Inge Birgitte Siegumfeldt . German by Werner Schmitz and Silvia Morawetz. Rowohlt, Reinbek 2017 (414 pages), ISBN 978-3-499-27261-5 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sascha Weiler: Poetry and Truth . In: Literaturkritik.de , March 23, 2017, accessed January 4, 2018.
  2. ↑ A Life in Words, p. 87