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Here And Now: Letters (2008-2011) (2012)

by Paul Auster(Favorite Author)

3.72 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0670026662 (ISBN13: 9780670026661)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Viking Adult

review 1: Auster and Coetzee in the course of three years of regular correspondence seem to continue a friendship that was started certainly earlier than 2008. Auster strikes upon the expression "absent other" near the end of the collection -- "a kind of adult cousin to the imaginary friends little children invent for themselves" -- to describe his relationship with his South African penpal (in Australia) and the imagination that draws a picture of how his friend is, writes, looks. They are writing to and imagining the "absent other."The two endearingly bandy about topics of one or the other's choosing (Israel, sports, poetry, film, memory, funambulism) and are pretty faithful in picking up the thread even after several weeks or even months. They allow themselves germane diversions... more and some of the most raw and interesting speculations about life, aging, geopolitics occur in these asides. They seem to be constantly traveling to film festivals, literary festivals, and idyllic castles in Italy or Norway. (I was always curious about Auster's relationship with Lydia Davis, and in this volume, his love for Siri Hustvedt, his wife of 34 years, is profusely enumerated.)It's clear to me now that Auster's near-sycophantic effusiveness (e.g., can't wait to see you in Italy; thanks so much for your thoughtful response; I really hope you and Dorothy can attend) betrays a bit of a friendship disequilibrium. Judgmental, and none of my business, but it seems to be there. When Coetzee points out the irony in a Jonathan Franzen anecdote that Auster tells on pp.160-61, Auster backtracks and says, yes, of course, I saw the irony, even though he clearly missed it in the original letter. There's a mild (very mild) defensiveness it seems in some of Auster's inability to let Coetzee interpret his friend's words the way he wishes. You can see this when Auster mentions the 70s cycling movie Breaking Away as noteworthy (p. 191) and then later retreats and agrees with Coetzee that the ending of the film was cheesy and formulaic: "No, I didn't mean to imply that Breaking Away is a cinematic masterpiece" (p. 198). In the end, they certainly seem like friends with near-equal footing, but I couldn't help but pin Auster as the younger (attentive, garrulous, detail-oriented) brother and Coetzee as the older (comfortable in his own skin) one.Both authors write frankly and directly and express mutual admiration for each other's work. They like typewriters, and almost impossibly maintain their letter correspondence exclusively via fax machine. 2008-11. Fax machine. Auster is an admitted technophobe and will sometimes ask his wife to send Coetzee a tiny tide-him-over email. Auster makes the astute self-realization that none of his fictions have or will include the technological trappings of 21st century life: no email, no cell phones, certainly no Internet/social media in the lives of his characters. Coetzee philosophically is unnerved by fictions that include characters who are always-connected (and contactable), and knows he won't be around to worry about it.The two quirkiest commonalities between the authors were very much unexpected: Neither loves to read fiction, and both are reticent to vividly convey a physical space in their fiction, opting instead to go spare on sensory details (so they say) and force the readers' disparate imaginations to kick in. I guess that's why they are so fond of having each other as "absent others."
review 2: Loved it! Like listening to two really smart old guys talk about everything under the sun. Inspired me to write a few letters and wish for a regular pen pal, like the ones I had in my early teens. I can't think of anyone I know who would love this book - it's one for the fans. I'm a massive fan of both Coetzee and Siri Hustvedt so it was bliss to join John and Paul for tea in the evenings. less

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