Le Diable par la queue
by Paul Auster
- 8 Want to read
- 1 Currently reading
This is the story of a young man's struggle to stay afloat. By turns poignant and comic, Paul Auster's memoir is essentially an autobiographical essay about money - and what it means not to have it.
From one odd job to the next, from one failed scheme to another, Auster investigates his own stubborn compulsion to make art, and describes his ingenious, often farfetched attempts to survive on next to nothing. From the streets of New York City and Paris to the rural roads of Upstate New York, the author treats us to a series of remarkable adventures and unforgettable encounters and, in several elaborate appendixes, to previously unknown work from these years.
Here are three plays that contain the seeds of inspiration for some of Auster's future work, a tabletop baseball game (complete with cards and rules), and a pseudonymous detective novel - the author's first full-length novel. Each is an example of Auster's effort to make money; each is an illustration of the artist's mind at work. The result is a book of manifold delights and discoveries, an autobiography that resembles no other.
Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
Previews available in: English French
Subjects
Homes and haunts, American Authors, Economic aspects of Authorship, Intellectual life, Americans, Authorship, Economic aspects, Biography, History, Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.)., Auster, paul, 1947-, Authors, biography, New York Times reviewed, Auster, Paul, 1947-, Homes, Literatura norte-americana, Biographies, Histoire, Écrivains américains, 20e siècle, Americains, Résidences et lieux familiers, AutobiografiePeople
Paul Auster (1947-), Paul AusterPlaces
Paris, France, New York (State), New York, Paris (France), New York (N.Y.), New York (Etats-Unis ; état)Times
20th century, 20e siècleShowing 3 featured editions. View all 18 editions?
| Edition | Availability |
|---|---|
1
|
eeee
|
2
Hand to mouth: a chronicle of early failure
1997, Faber and Faber
in English
0571171494 9780571171491
|
eeee
|
3
|
aaaa
|
Book Details
Edition Notes
Classifications
The Physical Object
Edition Identifiers
Work Identifiers
Source records
First Sentence
"IN MY LATE TWENTIES and early thirties, I went through a period of several years when everything I touched turned to failure."
Links outside Open Library
Community Reviews (0)
Lists
| August 17, 2025 | Edited by OnFrATa | Merge works (MRID: 229970) |
| August 17, 2025 | Edited by OnFrATa | Merge works (MRID: 229913) |
| July 13, 2024 | Edited by MARC Bot | import existing book |
| August 10, 2021 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
| December 9, 2009 | Created by WorkBot | add works page |