Siri Hustvedt

Siri Hustvedt reflects on 43 years of shared history in her new book. After her husband, author Paul Auster, died of cancer in May 2024, the literary world was deeply shaken. In her own grief, the great American writer began writing just a few days after his death. In her book of mourning, memory, and love, she approaches the impossible desire to bring Paul back to life. By immersing herself in her life, in the community of the legendary writing couple from Brooklyn, she combines her pain and the comfort of moments lived into an unprecedentedly emotional whole. He wanted to become a ghost, Paul said before his death. In Ghost Stories: A Book of Remembrance (Rowohlt; translation: Uli Aumüller and Grete Osterwald), his presence hovers through the words, carried by cigarillos, first love letters, and his own works. This includes Auster's last book project, consisting of letters to his grandson Miles, who was born a few months before his death.

When Siri Hustvedt talks about Paul Auster, she raises big questions about love and memory that affect all human beings—and transforms great sorrow into even greater love.

Moderator: Jan Ehlert

German reading: Oda Thormeyer