NEW YORK —Paul Auster, a prolific, award-winning writer and director known for creative tales and meta-narratives such as “The New York Trilogy” and “4 3 2 1,” died at the age of 77.

The Carol Mann Agency, Auster’s literary representatives, announced his death on Wednesday but did not immediately disclose any other information. Auster was diagnosed with cancer in 2022.

Auster wrote over 30 books, which have been translated into dozens of languages, beginning in the 1970s. He was a longtime fixture in the Brooklyn literary scene but has yet to achieve major commercial success in the United States. However, he was widely admired overseas for his cosmopolitan worldview and erudite and reflective style, and the French government named him a chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters in 1991. He was also shortlisted for the Booker Prize and elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Paul Auster, Prolific And Experimental Man Of Letters And Filmmaker, Dies At 77

Auster, dubbed the “dean of American post-modernists” and “the most meta of American meta-fictional writers,” combined history, politics, genre experiments, existential quests, and self-conscious references to writers and writing. “The New York Trilogy,” which featured “City of Glass,” “Ghosts,” and “The Locked Room,” was a postmodern detective story in which names and identities blurred, and one protagonist was a private investigator named Paul Auster. The brief “Travels in the Scriptorium” tells a story within a story as a political prisoner is forced to read a sequence of narratives by other victims, which will eventually include his own.

The author’s longest and most ambitious work of fiction, “4 3 2 1,” was published in 2017 and was a Booker Prize nominee. The 800-page novel is a story of quadraphonic realism in the post-World War II era, following Archibald Isaac Ferguson’s simultaneous adventures from summer camp and high school baseball to student life in New York and Paris during the major uprisings of the late 1960s.

“Identical but different, meaning four boys with the same name parents, the same bodies, and the same genetic material, but each one living in a different house in a different town with his own set of circumstances,” the author writes. “Each one on his own separate path, and yet all of them still the same person, three imaginary versions of himself, and then himself thrown in as Number Four for good measure; the author of the book.”

His other works included the nonfiction compilations “Groundwork” and “Talking to Strangers”; a family memoir, “The Invention of Solitude”; a biography of novelist Stephen Crane; the novels “Leviathan” and “Talking to Strangers”; and the poetry collection “White Space.” In his most recent novel, “Baumgardner,” the titular character is a widowed professor troubled by mortality and wondering “where his mind will be taking him next.”

Auster was such an old-fashioned novelist that he used a typewriter and disliked email and other Internet communication. However, he had an extraordinarily active film career compared to his writing peers.

In the mid-1990s, Auster worked with filmmaker Wayne Wang on the celebrated art-house film “Smoke,” which was an adaptation of Auster’s funny narrative about a Brooklyn tobacco shop and a customer named Paul. The film stars Harvey Keitel, Stockard Channing, and William Hurt, among others, and earned Auster an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay.

Paul Auster, Prolific And Experimental Man Of Letters And Filmmaker, Dies At 77

Wang and Auster immediately followed up on “Smoke” with “Blue in the Face,” an improvised story set in a Brooklyn cigar shop that starred Keitel and featured appearances by everyone from Lou Reed to Lily Tomlin.

Auster eventually created the films himself. Keitel appeared in Auster’s 1998 love story “Lulu on the Bridge,” which he directed and co-wrote with Vanessa Redgrave. Nine years later, Auster wrote and directed the drama “The Inner Life of Martin Frost,” which starred David Thewlis as an author and Irène Jacob as a lady who has an unusual connection to the story he is writing.

“The four times I’ve worked on movies, I’ve never had a problem talking to actors,” Auster told filmmaker Wim Wenders in a 2017 interview published in Interview magazine. “I was always in excellent harmony with them. After those events, I recognized a connection between creating fiction and acting. The writer does it with words on a page, whereas the actor does so with his body. The effort remains the same.

Auster married fellow author Siri Hustvedt in 1982, and they had a daughter, Sophie, who appears in “The Inner Life of Martin Frost.” He also had a son, Daniel, from his first marriage to the author-translator Lydia Davis. Daniel Auster would suffer from drug addiction and die of an overdose in 2022, shortly after being charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of his young daughter, Ruby.

Paul Auster never publicly discussed his son’s death, but he had written extensively on parenthood. In “The Invention of Solitude,” published in 1982, he reflected on the “thousands of hours” he’d spent with Daniel in the first three years of his life and wondered if they were worthwhile. “It will be lost forever,” Auster wrote. “All these things will vanish for the boy’s memory forever.”

Paul Auster, Prolific And Experimental Man Of Letters And Filmmaker, Dies At 77

Born in Newark, New Jersey, Paul Benjamin Auster grew up in a middle-class Jewish family caught between his father’s thriftiness and miserliness and his mother’s desire to spend to the point of irresponsibility. He would soon feel like an outcast in his family, turned off by their materialism and inspired by James Joyce’s “Ulysses” or Edgar Allan Poe’s stories rather than the stability of a typical employment.

His ideals would be thoroughly tested. After graduating from Columbia University, Auster toiled for years before finding a publisher and making money from his works. He wrote poetry, translated French literature, worked on an oil tanker, tried to sell a baseball board game, and even considered making money by raising worms in his cellar.

“All along, my only ambition had been to write,” Auster wrote in her brief memoir “Hand to Mouth,” released in 1995. “I knew it as early as 16 or 17 years old, and I never misled myself into believing I could make a life from it. Becoming a writer is not a ‘career decision’ like becoming a doctor or a police officer. You don’t select it; you’re picked, and once you realize that you’re not cut out for anything else, you must be prepared to walk a long, hard road for the rest of your life.”

SOURCE – (AP)

LOS ANGELES — Britney Spears and her father Jamie Spears have reached a compromise to resolve the ongoing concerns in the judicial conservatorship that has governed her life and financial choices for almost 14 years. This settlement will prevent a potentially lengthy, unpleasant, and revealing trial.

A scheduled hearing regarding these matters, which included Jamie Spears’ request for a comprehensive ruling to dismiss them, was removed from the court calendar after the judge authorized the settlement on Friday.

Britney And Jamie Spears Settlement Avoids Long, Potentially Ugly And Revealing Trial

Britney Spears was emancipated from the conservatorship in November 2021, following two speeches she delivered to a judge that effectively shifted the prevailing public opinion against it, ultimately becoming a prominent movement identified by the hashtag #FreeBritney.

However, several components persisted and prolonged the legal proceedings, including the ultimate disbursements to the lawyers who assisted in managing the conservatorship. Attorney Mathew Rosengart, representing Spears, also aimed to publicly address the alleged financial misconduct by Jamie Spears and the claims of extensive surveillance of Spears.

All of those matters will now be eliminated in the settlement, the details of which were not revealed in a series of legal documents filed last week. One of the files stated that Jamie Spears has been completely and permanently relieved of his duties as the Former Conservator of the Estate.

Britney And Jamie Spears Settlement Avoids Long, Potentially Ugly And Revealing Trial

“While the conservatorship was officially ended in November 2021, her desire for liberation is now fully realized,” stated Rosengart. As per her wishes, her independence now includes the fact that she will no longer be required to appear, participate in court, or be caught up in legal actions related to this issue. We have had the esteemed opportunity to represent, safeguard, and advocate for Britney Spears.

The trial was scheduled to commence next month.

The attorney representing Jamie Spears, Alex Weingarten, stated that the settlement was kept quiet at her lawyer’s insistence.

“Jamie is completely transparent and willing to reveal all details regarding every aspect of the conservatorship in order to provide the public with the genuine truth,” stated Weingarten to The Associated Press on Monday. “Jamie harbors deep affection for his daughter and has consistently exerted maximum effort to safeguard her.”

In her recently published memoir, “The Woman in Me,” Britney Spears candidly expressed her belief that her father consistently prioritized financial gain over all else.

Britney And Jamie Spears Settlement Avoids Long, Potentially Ugly And Revealing Trial

After the conservatorship ended, she married her long-term lover, Sam Asghari. However, Asghari initiated divorce proceedings slightly more than a year later. The divorce is still pending, and the two individuals are legally married.

Although she has experimented with music, including a duet with Elton John in 2022, she firmly denied reports of a new album in January and solemnly committed to never reenter the music industry.

SOURCE – (AP)

New York: On Tuesday, Donald Trump was found in contempt of court and was imposed a fine of $9,000 for persistently disregarding a gag order that prohibited him from publicly discussing anybody involved in his New York hush money case, including witnesses and jurors. The judge cautioned that he may face imprisonment if he repeats the offense.

New York Judge Juan M. Merchan determined that there were nine infractions, although prosecutors had initially claimed there were ten. Trump gazed downward at the table before him while the judge pronounced the ruling, displaying a faint frown.

The verdict served as a strong criticism of the Republican former president’s claim that he was using his freedom of expression, and as a reminder that he is a defendant in a criminal case and must adhere to the strict procedures of a trial. The judge’s implicit warning to incarcerate a former president indicated that Trump’s already tenuous legal position could deteriorate further based on his conduct throughout the trial.

Judge Holds Trump In Contempt, Fines Him $9,000 And Raises Threat Of Jail In Hush Money Trial

Merchan expressed a strong awareness and defense of Trump’s First Amendment rights, especially considering his campaign for the presidency.

“Preserving the defendant’s lawful freedom of speech is of utmost significance. It is imperative that he is allowed to actively engage in campaigning for the office he aspires to, and that he has the opportunity to counter and protect himself from political assaults,” expressed Merchan.

However, he cautioned that the court would not tolerate deliberate breaches of its legal directives and that, if deemed necessary and suitable given the circumstances, it would impose a punitive measure involving imprisonment.

By making that statement, the court brought the possibility of Trump being the first former president of the United States to be imprisoned closer.

Trump is accustomed to having uninterrupted access to his social media platform to criticize opponents and express his thoughts. Following his ban from Twitter in the aftermath of the January 6, 2021, Capitol incident, Trump established his platform to ensure that his messages would not be subject to blocking or restrictions.

The Trump campaign was already soliciting donations based on the breaches. He has consistently attempted to disassociate himself from problematic comments that he has shared with his large number of followers by claiming that they are only “retweets.”

However, he does possess prior knowledge and familiarity with gag orders, as they were previously enforced during his civil fraud prosecution. Upon being discovered to have breached those directives, he remitted fines exceeding $15,000.

The ruling was issued on Tuesday, marking the beginning of the second week of testimony in the landmark case. Manhattan prosecutors contend that Trump and his allies engaged in an illicit plot to manipulate the 2016 presidential campaign by buying and subsequently suppressing unfavorable reports. He has entered a plea of not guilty.

Trump was instructed to remit the penalty by the end of Friday’s working day. Merchan also decreed that he must delete seven objectionable posts from his Truth Social account and two from his campaign website by 2:15 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, as stated by Merchan. The judge is considering more purported breaches of Trump’s gag order and will listen to arguments on Thursday.

Out of the 10 posts, the one that Merchan had authority over and was not considered a violation was made on April 10. This particular post referred to witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels as “sleaze bags.” Merchan expressed that Trump’s claim of responding to previous posts by Cohen gives him enough reason to hesitate and question whether the post was a violation.

Merchan determined that Trump’s statement, in which he quoted Fox News commentator Jesse Watters’ assertion that liberal activists were dishonestly joining the jury, clearly breached the gag order. Merchan observed that the statements in Trump’s post on April 17 in quotation marks inaccurately represented what Watters truly said.

Judge Holds Trump In Contempt, Fines Him $9,000 And Raises Threat Of Jail In Hush Money Trial

“Therefore, according to the court’s perspective, this post represents the defendant’s own words,” Merchan wrote.

Merchan warned against the misuse of the gag order, emphasizing that it should not be employed as a weapon rather than a defense by possible witnesses. He further stated that if individuals, such as Cohen, who are safeguarded by the order, persist in attacking Trump, it becomes evident that they no longer require the protection provided by the gag order. Cohen has stated his intention to abstain from making any remarks about Trump until he gives testimony during the trial.

Testimony continued on Tuesday with Gary Farro, a banker who assisted Cohen, Trump’s previous lawyer, in establishing accounts, including one that Cohen utilized to purchase the confidentiality of adult entertainer Stormy Daniels. She claimed to have had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, an allegation that he denies. Farro testified on Friday, recounting how Cohen requested the establishment of two accounts, but one was never officially opened.

Shortly after establishing a second account under Essential Consultants LLC in October 2016, Michael Cohen transferred $130,000 from his home equity loan to this account. Within the same day, he wired the exact amount of $130,000 to Keith Davidson, who was, as evidenced by the paperwork, an attorney representing Daniels at the time. The 2016 presidential election took place on November 8.

Farro stated that Cohen suggested the transaction was connected to a real estate deal rather than being associated with a political candidate, an adult film star, or the acquisition of a possible media story.

“That could be perceived as a reputational risk,” he stated.

Thus far, the jurors have been presented with testimony from two additional witnesses. Rhona Graff, Trump’s former executive assistant, remembered seeing Daniels at Trump’s office suite in Trump Tower and assumed she was a prospective candidate for one of Trump’s “Apprentice” shows.

Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker disclosed his agreement to act as the Trump campaign’s informant, responsible for suppressing unfavorable rumors and allegations against Trump and women. Pecker detailed his payment of $180,000 to acquire and withhold reports from a doorman and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, but he did not participate in the payment to Daniels.

Judge Holds Trump In Contempt, Fines Him $9,000 And Raises Threat Of Jail In Hush Money Trial

Trump asserts that all of the stories bought were untrue. The defense lawyers employed cross-examination to imply that Trump’s true intention was to safeguard his reputation and his family rather than to manipulate the presidential election result.

Trump is facing 34 criminal charges for manipulating corporate documents about the hush money payments. He has refuted any misconduct and entered a plea of not guilty.

The comprehensive evidence regarding corporate transactions and bank accounts prepares the groundwork for Cohen’s testimony. Cohen, who was incarcerated following his guilty plea in 2018 for campaign finance violations and other offenses, will provide his story. The timing of his testimony remains uncertain.

The trial, the first of Trump’s four criminal matters to be presented to a jury, is anticipated to continue for at least another month. As Trump spends more time in court, his frustration intensifies as the November election draws nearer.

Trump has been engaging in campaign activities during his free time. However, he is obligated to attend court sessions four days a week. On Tuesday, he again expressed his disapproval of the matter outside the courtroom.

“This is a case that should never have been initiated,” he stated.

SOURCE – (AP)