The novelist on his latest work, an 800-page tribute to the American author Stephen Crane, and why the greatest writers are monomaniacs
Paul Auster is in bed. We’re speaking on the telephone and it’s in his bedroom that his reception is best. “I much prefer telephone calls,” he says. “So much better than these terrible little squares on a screen.” Known for his elegant, lapidary novels – The New York Trilogy and Moon Palace are more than 30 years old now – Auster’s later career has seen him in more expansive form. His Booker-shortlisted 4321 was almost 1,000 pages of speculative fiction, looking at the various paths a life could take. Now, in one of his regular forays into nonfiction, he has written, at 800 pages, another absolute unit of a book. His subject, the turn-of-the-century novelist and poet Stephen Crane, lived a short life – he died at 28 and his complete works could be read in a weekend. Auster’s book, though, is massive. It’s also marvellous: part biography, part literary criticism. Auster takes you deep into the heart of his own obsession with Crane’s extraordinary, radical writings and it’s almost impossible not to be infected by his enthusiasm.
Auster is the author of 20 novels, has won numerous prizes and lives with his wife, the author Siri Hustvedt, in Brooklyn, New York.
Burning Boy: The Life and Work of Stephen Crane is published by Faber (£25). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply
Guardian Live will host an online event with Paul Auster on Monday 11 October. Book tickets here
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