Paul Auster spoke at Harvard tonite, so i went to see him. i am fascinated with him, mostly through his relationship with Sophie Calle, who i learned about at MassMoCA with a few partners in crime. he’s kinda fascinating – focused on how an individual can be conveyed through text. his latest work, “I thought my father was god” is a collection of other people’s real life stories that he collected while working on an NPR show telling the stories of real live people. he collected over 4000 stories, but only 180 of them are in the book.

it’s pretty entertaining as a concept – showing that everyone has a voice and a story to tell, that we are all storytellers at heart. so, for his book talk tonite, he actually brought along 5 of the authors who were from the area, asking them to tell their stories. it was the first time he met them in real life, but anyhow.. so, he was interviewed for about 10 minutes about the purpose of the book (by another NPR person) and then the 5 authors told their 1-2 page stories, a mixture of emotions. it was cute, but i really wanted to hear more about Paul Auster, and how his mind works.. oh well. next time.

so, i got him to sign my notebook on the way out – an orderly organized procession where people didn’t talk to the author. but when i arrived up front, i told him that i blamed him for my latest speeding ticket. he looked up, surprised, and i told him how driving cross country, we didn’t turn off the light in the car so that we could finish his book.. and that i couldn’t see a cop as a result and got caught doing 85. he just looked at me funny. ::sigh::

oh.. and really, he’s as scary looking in real life as in person. but he doesn’t seem to have a scary personality, only a scary image. he just seems like a writer, focused inward and rather non-social. i guess that’s just normal, right?