CRITICISM

Adams, Robert M. “Cornering the Market.” New York Review of Books (3 December 1992): 14-6.

Offers tempered evaluation of Leviathan and The Art of Hunger.

Alford, Steven E. “Spaced-Out: Signification and Space in Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy.” Contemporary Literature XXXVI, No. 4 (Winter 1995): 613-32.

Examines the function of three categories of space—pedestrian, mapped, and utopian—and their association with the search for selfhood and meaning in The New York Trilogy. Alford contends that such fictive “spaces” in Auster's novels serve as a forum for his characters to explore, confront, and evade their various fears and misunderstandings.

Barone, Dennis. Review of The Art of Hunger, by Paul Auster. Review of Contemporary Fiction 13, No. 2 (Summer 1993): 259-60.

A positive review of The Art of Hunger.

Barone, Dennis. Review of Leviathan, by Paul Auster. Review of Contemporary Fiction, 12, No. 3 (Fall 1992): 193-4.

Summarizes the central themes and concerns of Leviathan.

Bell, Madison Smartt. “Poker and Nothingness.” New York Times Book Review. (4 November 1990): 15-6.

Offers tempered assessment of The Music of Chance, which he concludes “is not Paul Auster's best novel” but “still a very good one.”

Birkerts, Sven. “Reality, Fiction, and In the Country of Last Things.” Review of Contemporary Fiction 14, No. 1 (Spring 1994): 66-9.

Examines the narrative structure and archetypal themes of In the Country of Last Things.

Creeley, Robert. “Austerities.” Review of Contemporary Fiction 14, No. 1 (Spring 1994): 35-9.

Discusses associations between author, language, and meaning in Auster's writing and Creeley's personal reaction to Auster's work.

Denby, David. “Curls of Smoke.” New York (19 June 1995): 74-5.

A favorable review of the film Smoke.

Edwards, Thomas E. “Sad Young Men.” New York Review of Books, (17 August 1989): 52-3.

A positive review of Moon Palace.

Kakutani, Michiko. “A Picaresque Search for Father and for Self.” The New York Times (7 March 1989): C19.

A positive review of Moon Palace.

———. “How Ben Sachs Came to Blow Himself Up.” The New York Times (8 September 1992): C14.

Kakutani offers unfavorable assessment of Leviathan, which he concludes is “a disappointing novel by a dextrous and prolific writer.”

———. “My Life as a Dog: In His Master's Death, a Dog Feels Life's Vagaries.” The New York Times (25 June 1999): E39.

Offers tempered praise for Timbuktu.

———. “Shamed by Excess, Then Shamed by Too Little.” The New York Times (2 September 1997): C14.

An unfavorable review of Hand to Mouth.

Lavender, William. “The Novel of Critical Engagement: Paul Auster's City of Glass.” Contemporary Literature XXXIV, No. 2 (Summer 1993): 219-39.

Examines Auster's subversion and deconstruction of literary theory, traditional genres, and narrative representation in City of Glass.

Little, William G. “Nothing to Go On: Paul Auster's City of Glass.” Contemporary Literature XXXVIII, No. 1 (Spring 1997): 133-63.

Examines Auster's use of detective techniques and minimalist prose in City of Glass to deconstruct and neutralize limited, value-laden representations of reality and experience. “The narrative's ascetic aesthetic,” writes Little, “reflects th[e] desire to construct a perfectly decontextualized text.”

Malin, Irving. Review of The Music of Chance, by Paul Auster. Review of Contemporary Fiction 11, No. 1 (Spring 1991): 315-6.

Summarizes the central themes and narrative features of The Music of Chance.

McCaffery, Larry McCaffery, and Sinda Gregory. “An Interview with Paul Auster.” Contemporary Literature, XXXIII, No. 1 (Spring 1992): 1-23.

Auster discusses the relationship between his fiction and life, the themes and construction of his novels, his artistic and theoretical perspective, and his work as a critic and poet.

Nealon, Jeffrey T. “Work of the Detective, Work of the Writer: Paul Auster's City of Glass.” Modern Fiction Studies 42, No. 1 (Spring 1996): 91-110.

Examines metafictional and metaphysical aspects of City of Glass, drawing attention to the limitations, rather than the open-ended possibilities, of language, space, and time in Auster's anti-detective postmodern novel.

Towers, Robert. “Enigma Variations.” New York Review of Books (17 January 1991): 31-3.

A positive review of The Music of Chance.

Yardley, Jonathan. “Above the Fruited Plain.” Washington Post Book World (28 August 1994): 3.

Offers favorable assessment of Mr. Vertigo.

Additional coverage of Auster's life and career is contained in the following sources published by the Gale Group: Contemporary Authors, Vols. 69-72; Contemporary Authors New Revision Series, Vols. 23, 52, 75; and Major 20th-Century Writers, Edition 1.