Paul Auster, 1947 als Nachkomme eingewanderter österreichischer Juden in Newark, New Jersey geboren, studierte Anglistik und vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft an der Columbia University New York (B.A. und M.A.) und fuhr danach als Matrose auf einem Öltanker zur See. 1971 - 74 lebte er in Frankreich, hauptsächlich in Paris. Nach seiner Rückkehr in die USA nahm er einen Lehrauftrag an der Columbia University an und arbeitete zusätzlich als Übersetzer französischer Autoren (Blanchot, Bouchet, Dupin, Joubert, Mallarmé, Sartre) sowie als Herausgeber französischer Literatur in amerikanischen Verlagen. Paul Auster lebt in Brooklyn, New York, ist mit der Schriftstellerin Siri Hustvedt verheiratet und hat zwei Kinder. Er erhielt Stipendien der National Endowment for the Arts (1977 für Lyrik, 1983 für Prosa), den France Culture Prix Etranger (1988) und den Morton Dauwen Zabel Award (1990). 2006 erhielt er den Prinz-von-Asturien-Preis in der Sparte Literatur.

"Day/Night" brings together two metaphysical novels that mirror each other and are meant to be read in tandem: two men, each confined to a room, one suddenly alert to his existence, the other desperate to escape into sleep.

Who are we? What is real and not real? How does the political intersect with the personal? After great loss, why are some of us unable to go on? "One of America's greats" (Time Out) and "a descendant of Kafka and Borges" (Booklist), Auster explores in these two small masterpieces some of our most pressing philosophical concerns.

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ONE VOLUME, TWO EXISTENTIAL CLASSICS BY BESTSELLING NOVELIST PAUL AUSTERDay/Night brings together two metaphysical novels that mirror each other and are meant to be read in tandem: two men, each confined to a room, one suddenly alert to his existence, the other desperate to escape into sleep.In Travels in the Scriptorium (2007), elderly Mr. Blank wakes in an unfamiliar cell, with no memory of who he is or how he got there. He must use the few objects he finds and the information imparted by the day's string of visitors to cobble together an idea of his identity. In Man in the Dark (2008), another old man, August Brill, suffering from insomnia, struggles to push away thoughts of painful personal losses by imagining what might have been.Who are we? What is real and not real? How does the political intersect with the personal? After great loss, why are some of us unable to go on? "One of America's greats"* and "a descendant of Kafka and Borges,"** Auster explores in these two small masterpieces some of our most pressing philosophical concerns.*Time Out (Chicago)**Booklist