內容簡介
奧斯特終其一生追尋疏離父親的影子與意象。接獲其父死訊之後，奧斯特借整理遺物，一點一滴拼湊出父親的內心世界，試圖還原深植於父親心中，縈繞不去的孤獨根源。
籠罩父親周身的孤獨與沉默，使得他與世界之間彷彿隔著重重屏障，無法穿透，無法映照，也難以折射。父親所有流於表面的話語、看似隨意的言談，皆是「刻意」為害怕流露，而極力避免誤觸的內在所準備。那份疏離，是對他人，也對父親自己。
總是試圖引起父親回應，卻一再感到難以進入父親生命，這是一段由緘默與心靈的不在場構成的關係—一人未曾表達，而另一人從未被注意。在這本回憶錄中，奧斯特以近乎殘忍、手術刀般精準的筆法，冷酷剖析自己與父親的孤獨與隨之而來，那股莫之能禦的無能為力，以及人我之間的恆常狀態，終究是彼此缺席—無法真正互相觸摸、進入彼此的苦澀與無可奈何。
In this debut work by New York Times-bestselling author Paul Auster (The New York Trilogy), The Invention of Solitude, a memoir, established Auster’s reputation as a major new voice in American writing. His moving and personal meditation on fatherhood is split into two stylistically separate sections. In the first, Auster reflects on the memories of his father who was a distant, undemonstrative, and cold man who died an untimely death. As he sifts through his Father’s things, Auster uncovers a sixty-year-old murder mystery that sheds light on his father’s elusive character. In the second section, the perspective shifts and Auster begins to reflect on his own identity as a father by adopting the voice of a narrator, “A.” Through a mosaic of images, coincidences, and associations “A,” contemplates his separation from his son, his dying grandfather, turning the story into a self-conscious reflection on the process of writing.
