Travels in the Scriptorium – Paul Auster

Description

Travels in the Scriptorium by Paul Auster is a mind-bending, metafictional exploration of memory, identity, and authorship. The novel centres around Mr Blank, an old man who wakes up each day in a stark, windowed room with no recollection of who he is or why he’s there. The room contains a desk, a bed, black-and-white photographs, and several piles of paper, all labelled with one-word tags.

As Mr Blank struggles to piece together his fragmented reality, he receives visits from figures who claim to know him, including Anna, a middle-aged woman who speaks of treatment, love, and past promises. But are they real, or figments of his fading mind? Is Mr Blank a prisoner, a patient, or something more sinister—a character trapped by his creator?

Auster crafts a gripping narrative that blurs the lines between writer and subject, reality and fiction. Like The New York Trilogy, this novel is rich with philosophical undertones, drawing comparisons to Beckett and Pinter.