Paul Auster, Author of “The New York Trilogy”, Dead at 77

"He never lost touch with human suffering, and connectedness, and it made him the beloved writer he has become," said the author's friend Jacki Lyden

Novelist and screenwriter Paul Auster, known for writing the The New York Trilogy and 4 3 2 1, has died at the age of 77.

Auster died of complications due to lung cancer in his Brooklyn home on Tuesday, April 30, his friend Jacki Lyden confirmed, according to The New York Times, BBC News and Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Lyden described Auster to the AFP as a "writer's writer" who often wrote about "every facet of loss, loneliness, and the joys and sorrows of a life in words” — something which she says helped connect people to the stories he told.

"He never lost touch with human suffering, and connectedness, and it made him the beloved writer he has become," she said.

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Auster was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1937 and moved to New York to attend Columbia University, per the Times, AFP and NPR. He lived in France for four years after graduation, and utilized his writing skills to translate French literature for a living, which may have played a role in his later popularity in France and other European countries.

He eventually moved back to New York, where he would develop his well-known The New York Trilogy, which started with his 1985 breakthrough book, City of Glass. The story follows a writer who takes on the identity of a detective and delves into the world of sleuthing while slowly losing himself, per the Times and NPR.

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Auster would later notably publish another book in 2017 called 4 3 2 1 that told the story of a main character in four different circumstances, which earned him a spot on the shortlist for the British literary award, the Man Booker Prize, the Times reported.

He also received the Morton Dauwen Zabel Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1990, the Prix Médicis for the best foreign novel published in France in 1992 and the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature in 2006, according to The City University of New York’s Baruch College website. His works have been translated into 27 different languages.

The author also earned the insignia of Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters for his contributions to the spread of French culture in 2007. New York Magazine previously wrote of the author in 2007, per the Times, “The first thing you hear as you approach an Auster reading, anywhere in the world, is French. Merely a best-selling author in these parts, Auster is a rock star in Paris.”

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However, his work as a novelist wasn’t the only thing Auster was known for. He also worked as a screenwriter in the 1990s and 2000s. His works include shorts like Lulu on the Bridge (1998), The Inner Life of Martin Frost (2007) and It Was Mine (2015). He also earned the Independent Spirit Award for best screenplay in 1996, according to his profile on the Baruch College website.

Auster also published two memoirs, Hand to Mouth in 1997, which discussed his trials and tribulations becoming a writer, and Winter Journal in 2012, which examined the difficulties that came with age, according to the Times.

The author is survived by his wife and fellow novelist Siri Hustvedt, daughter Sophie Auster, his sister Janet Auster, and a grandson Miles, per the outlet.

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