Book description
An old man sits in a room, with a single door and window, a bed, a
desk and a chair. Each day he awakes with no memory, unsure of whether
or not he is locked into the room. Attached to the few objects around
him are one-word, hand-written, labels and on the desk is a series of
vaguely familiar black-and-white photgraphs and four piles of paper.
Then a middle-aged woman called Anna enters and talks of pills and
treatment, but also of love and promises. Who is this Mr Blank, and
what is his fate? What does Anna represent from his past - and will he
have enough time to ever make sense of the clues that arise? After the
huge success of The Brooklyn Follies, Travels in the Scriptorium sees
Auster return to more metaphysical territory. A dark puzzle, and a
game that implicates both reader and writer alike, it is an ingenious
exploration of language, responsibility and the passage of time.
Paul Auster was born in New Jersey in 1947. After attending
Columbia University he lived in France for four years. Since 1974 he
has published poems, essays, novels, screenplays and translations. He
lives in Brooklyn, New York.
