Travels in the Scriptorium, Paul Auster
Travels in the Scriptorium, Paul Auster
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Travels in the Scriptorium

Author: Paul Auster

Narrator: Dick Hill

Unabridged: 4 hr 23 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 02/20/2007


Synopsis

An old man awakens, disoriented, in an unfamiliar chamber. With no memory of who he is or how he has arrived there, he pores over the relics on the desk, examining the circumstances of his confinement and searching his own hazy mind for clues.

Determining that he is locked in, the man—identified only as Mr. Blank—begins reading a manuscript he finds on the desk, the story of another prisoner, set in an alternate world the man doesn't recognize. Nevertheless, the pages seem to have been left for him, along with a haunting set of photographs. As the day passes, various characters call on the man in his cell—vaguely familiar people, some who seem to resent him for crimes he can't remember—and each brings frustrating hints of his identity and his past. All the while an overhead camera clicks and clicks, recording his movements, and a microphone records every sound in the room. Someone is watching.

Both chilling and poignant, Travels in the Scriptorium is vintage Paul Auster: mysterious texts, fluid identities, a hidden past, and, somewhere, an obscure tormentor. And yet, as we discover during one day in the life of Mr. Blank, his world is not so different from our own.


About Paul Auster

Paul Auster is the author of numerous novels, screenplays, and works of nonfiction, as well as a poet, translator, and film director. His many critically acclaimed novels include The Book of Illusions, Timbuktu, Oracle Night, Leviathan, The Music of Chance, and City of Glass. Auster's ability to blur the line between fantasy and reality has resulted in unique stories that never operate solely as good yarns. His fondness for allegory has earned him much praise. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife, author Siri Hustvedt.


Reviews

AudiobooksNow review by Ruth on 2010-10-26 18:31:59

Like several before me I found this book a bit disappointing. As it is my first book by Paul Auster I have little to compare it to. At times it was interesting but eventually it just becomes tiresome.

Goodreads review by Jon on May 24, 2022

Reminded me of Krapp's Last Tape by Samuel Beckett or The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat...solid fiction - lots of questions - much to ponder. Will look for more books by Paul Auster; always happy to find another author who has a unique perspective on existence and our need to examine deeper questions......more

Goodreads review by Bill on December 05, 2019

Light-weight meta-fiction. Not much going on here really, but--as always with Auster--his style makes it worthwhile.......more