Juan Sánchez
asked:
Is it necessary to read all the books Auster wrote to comprehend better this book? Which ones appear in this book as references?
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Travels in the Scriptorium,
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Carlos
Juan, the book tells a simple story: an old man with no name and of uncertain age, "anything between sixty and one hundred years," are locked in an austere room. The furniture in the room are just one bed, a wheelchair and a desk on which piles of paper are arranged. The old man, whom the narrator calls Blank, does not know how it ended up in that place, that could be a hospital room, a hotel room or a prison cell or asylum.
The papers on the room's desk are divided between pictures of people whose identity Blank does not remember and a handful of sheets with the fictional account of Sigmund Graf, a prisoner detained in the border of a country called Confederacy. The story of the book then divides between Graf's narrative and Blank's search for his own identity.
As you can see, there are an story that can be followed without prior knowledge of mr. Auster's body of work, but there are a more meaning reading available for those who read other books from the same author.
Over the course of a day, Blank receives an early morning visit from a nurse named Anna, talks to a former British police officer, James P. Flood, and a lawyer, Daniel Quinn. He goes through the care of another nurse, named Sophie, and receives a message from a Peter Stillman - all events linked to the disappearance of one fellow named Fanshawe, who, like many others, Blank would have sent on a mysterious mission.
The nurse called Anna can be the character Anna Blume, of In the Country of Last Things. The characters Stillman, Fanshawe, Sophie and Quinn come from the three novels assembled in The Trilogy of New York.
I hope I have answered your question.
Best regards.
The papers on the room's desk are divided between pictures of people whose identity Blank does not remember and a handful of sheets with the fictional account of Sigmund Graf, a prisoner detained in the border of a country called Confederacy. The story of the book then divides between Graf's narrative and Blank's search for his own identity.
As you can see, there are an story that can be followed without prior knowledge of mr. Auster's body of work, but there are a more meaning reading available for those who read other books from the same author.
Over the course of a day, Blank receives an early morning visit from a nurse named Anna, talks to a former British police officer, James P. Flood, and a lawyer, Daniel Quinn. He goes through the care of another nurse, named Sophie, and receives a message from a Peter Stillman - all events linked to the disappearance of one fellow named Fanshawe, who, like many others, Blank would have sent on a mysterious mission.
The nurse called Anna can be the character Anna Blume, of In the Country of Last Things. The characters Stillman, Fanshawe, Sophie and Quinn come from the three novels assembled in The Trilogy of New York.
I hope I have answered your question.
Best regards.
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