Over the years, the Poetry Center has teamed with The Paris Review to present numerous on-stage conversations. These talks—with Chinua Achebe, Norman Mailer, Iris Murdoch, Günter Grass, Tony Kushner, Salman Rushdie, Pat Barker, Czesław Miłosz, Arthur Miller and others—often led to the Writers-at-Work interviews which appeared in the magazine.

In September of 2002, before a reading from his Book of Illusions, Paul Auster spoke with critic Michael Wood. Their discussion is today’s featured recording. Here is an excerpt from the published interview, which ran in The Paris Review’s Fall 2003 issue:

“I was always drawn to books that doubled back on themselves, that brought you into the world of the book, even as the book was taking you into the world. The manuscript as hero, so to speak. Wuthering Heights is that kind of novel. The Scarlet Letter is another. The frames are fictitious, of course, but they give a groundedness and credibility to the stories that other novels didn’t have for me. They posit the work as an illusion—which more traditional forms of narrative don’t—and once you accept the “unreality” of the enterprise, it paradoxically enhances the truth of the story. The words aren’t written in stone by an invisible author-god. They represent the efforts of a flesh-and-blood human being, and this is very compelling. The reader becomes a participant in the unfolding of the story—not just a detached observer.”

Mr. Auster returns to the Poetry Center on Monday, November 30, to read from his new novel Invisible. (Check out his recent interview with New York magazine on it.) He is paired with Spanish writer Javier Marías—whose Poison, Shadow and Farewell was recently called “the first authentic literary masterpiece of the 21st century” by The Guardian. Mr. Auster will be introduced by Rick Moody; and Mr. Marías by Wyatt Mason.

In an ongoing effort to share with our readers some of the great literary moments which the Poetry Center has presented across the decades, this blog has begun to feature regular postings of archival recordings by some of the best writers of our time—many of whom, like Paul Auster, are returning this season. To purchase tickets to Monday’s readings by Mr. Auster and Mr. Marías, please click here. For more information about the rest of the upcoming season, please click here. And for access to other recordings from the Poetry Center archive, please click here.

Unterberg Poetry Center webcasts and access to our archive are made possible in part by the generous support of the Sidney E. Frank Foundation.

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