From Memory to History in the Invention of Solitude Memory is the driving force behind every idea in Paul Auster’s Invention of Solitude; so much so, in fact, that he calls the second half, “The Book of Memory.” There is no doubt that Auster was feeling lost in the barrage of endless reminiscence. The onset of this reflection began with the death of his father. It was then that Auster evinced the degradation of …showed first 75 words of 1181 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1181 total…will never know when he will finish, but in three vague sentences he seems to admonish himself: “It was. It will never be again. Remember”(172). Since this quote is both at the beginning and end of “The Book of Memory,” one can even infer that Auster is again lost in the circular Amsterdam-like city of his psyche. And if that is the case, is not every catalogue of memory incomplete? Would it not be history?