The other day I read Paul Auster’s The Red Notebook. It’s a wonderful collection of little vignettes or anecdotes that apparently happened in real life, either to Auster or to friends of his. Each vignette describes some weird coincidence, such as two people meeting in Hong Kong and discovering that their sisters live next door to each other in the same Manhattan apartment building. The prose is marvelously economical and clear. The stories are unembellished and the facts speak for themselves.
I’ve been puzzling over this book. Each vignette by itself is charming, funny, touching, sweet. But in the aggregate, it’s hard to believe that many weird coincidences would present themselves to one person. Could they all really be true? The book is subtitled “True Stories,” yet it’s filed in the fiction section and its Dewey number is 813. I finally decided on three possible interpretations:
- Auster made them up.
- They’re true: there is something special about Auster that attracts these weird coincidences.
- They’re true: these kinds of things happen all the time to everyone, but it takes a genius like Auster to see the significance — the story — in these otherwise-banal events.
Which is it? I don’t know! I looked up some reviews of The Red Notebook and no one seemed to question whether the vignettes were actually true or not. I googled one anecdote, and I’m delighted to report there really is a law firm in Sligo, Ireland, with the fabulous name of Argue & Phibbs. But could all the anecdotes be true?
Anyway, I’ve been puzzling over this for the last week or so. I really wanted to get other people’s opinions. However, not everyone has read the book. So I thought maybe I should type up one of the vignettes just to give a taste. But then, in a VERY WEIRD COINCIDENCE, a real-life anecdote presented itself to me today which is a perfect example of the kind of thing Paul Auster writes about. Call it a coincidence within a coincidence — a meta-coincidence.
We went over to my parents’ house to celebrate Father’s Day with my dad. He gave a very sweet speech about how the cards are even more important to him than the gifts, and he saves them all. Then he brought out a cassette tape which my sister had made for him for a Father’s Day when she couldn’t be present. This must have been in 1992. In the tape, she explains the story behind the gift she gave him. The story is so revealing of both their characters (and I mean this in the best possible way) as well as being so perfectly Paul Auster-ish, that I couldn’t resist transcribing it:
This is the honest to goodness truth [Eva said]. Today is Tuesday, June 11. When I looked through the New York Times Book Review I found a book that I thought you’d like and which I also want for myself. It’s a book by Alan Dershowitz called Chutzpah. But before I bought the book I wanted to go back to Crown House. I hoped to find that Father’s Day mug that you’re so interested in getting.
So I went back there and I looked all around and I didn’t see it. I asked the woman if there was a special Father’s Day section. She directed me to it but there was no Trivial Pursuit Father’s Day mug. I explained to her, “Well, you know my dad has this mug, but it cracked, and he just has a hard time dealing with change. He likes routine. Is there any possibility there’s one in back?” I really did say that! She said no, sorry. I sadly walked out and thought maybe, if worst comes to worst, it’s probably the shape, not the decoration, that you were most interested in. I could come back holding your old mug and maybe find one as close as possible. But first I would go look for this Chutzpah book at Borders.
So I went to Borders and it was pretty crowded there. I went up to the information desk. There were a lot of people milling around. I asked where I could find the Chutzpah book. They said sorry, it’s all sold out, everyone wants it, we’re desperately trying to get it and we don’t know when it will be here. So I slumped my shoulders and was sad and looked a little frustrated.
As I was standing there my eyes focused on a little cluster of the mugs of the people that actually work there and lo and behold, there was the one and only Trivial Pursuit Father’s Day mug. I thought I was going to die! I said, “WHOSE mug is that???” They directed me to the guy.
“You know,” I said to him, “I really want that mug of yours. Is there any way you’d be interested in selling it to me? Because I have this dad and he really wants this mug and he already has it but it’s got this crack in it and he can’t deal with change; he wants that same mug. Would you be interested in selling it or swapping it for another mug?”
The guy became a little flustered.
“Oh well, thanks a lot, have a nice day,” I said, and I went and bought a different book for myself. As I was walking back he thrust the mug at me and said I could have it. It still had coffee in it and everything. I accepted it happily with all sorts of thanks, telling him my dad would be so pleased. Then I went out and dumped the coffee in the gutter. I went right back to Crown House and bought the guy a really nice, pretty mug and brought it back to him so he wouldn’t be mugless and he was very happy.
Anyway, that’s the Happy Father’s Day story. And isn’t Chutzpah a really appropriate title for the book that wasn’t there?
End of tape. And Pops still has the mug.
21 Comments
Seems plausible to me. I’ve heard various stories of how when people are on the lookout for something they start seeing it everywhere. It’s happened to me that I don’t notice something until I need it, and then I start seeing it everywhere.
Unable to deal with change? Pshaw, piffle, poppycock!
I tell you, that is a special cup!
Would the owner of the Hope Diamond, finding the gem gone, mobilize Interpol because she cannot deal with change?!?!?! No, when that first cup was cracked, the only other possible mug was one that featured a revolting cat, playing a guitar and singing about the joys of nibbling on mice feet. Would that be a vessel for morning nectar? Would I knock myself out to brew an acceptable potion only to drink out of such a barbaric container? Nevermore!
The new cup — thanks so much again, Eva, and thanks so much, Julie, for memorializng the incident and sharing it as inspiration with your readers — is magic. No matter what you pour into it, it tastes phantasmagoric — or even better! I can’t understand it.
It’s so true about the cards. I tell my kids and The Missus the same thing every year. Unfortunately, they love to shop, so there’s never a shortage of gifts on Father’s Day.
If only I’d learn how to shop better.
Delightful post. I loved how you wove your thoughts about your recent “read” into this endearing true life tale! Yes, your sister has “chutzpah!” I can’t wait to tell my family this one. We’re fans of “Trivial P.” game. Cool mug and neato “pops” to have recorded this.
Oops, sorry I mistyped. Your sister recorded it, but I still think your pops is “neato.” In fact your whole family sounds wonderful, besides literary!
Great story, made even greater by Father Worm’s comment. We each have our own favorite mugs in this house too, and NO ONE gets to touch my husband’s grey stoneware mug with the chinese sign for happiness on it. I prefer, out of a refusal to conform to type, to drink out of a disgustingly cute Precious Moments mug with my name in an acrostic on it.
Your book musings made me think of Roger welsch’s short stories in It’s Not the End of teh Earth But You Can See It from here, which he insists ahve been changed from what really happened to something readers will find more plausible.
Hey, wouldn’t this be a great meme? Everyone post a mug shot (ha ha) of their favorite mug. I want to see the Precious Moments mug, Veronica.
That’s a great idea for a meme! I did my part.
I loved The Red Notebook — it’s not masterful writing, but the stories are just so, I don’t know, … cool. I read it a few months ago, kept it in my purse for when I’d be riding public transit, and here’s something delightfully Austerish: one day I got on the subway, past morning rush hour, so the car’s pretty sparse, I pull out my book and notice 3 other people in that car reading Auster books (all different, but still). I’m inclined to say it’s all true, with only very minor, if any, embellishment. I don’t think he attracts coincidence more than average, he’s simply more attuned to it, more likely to notice, and yeah, find a story in it — it’s his job and he’s good at it.
I think coincidental and story-worthy things happen to all people all the time, but I think few people are equipped to re-tell the stories of their lives in an engaging way. It does take some effort. I loved the way you told this story and you have made me want to read The Red Notebook.
Great story. I haven’t read the Auster book but could it be shelved in fiction because the stories are mostly true and he just had to embellish a bit or add details to make them more interesting.
Things that make you go hmmmm. Coincidi (isn’t that better than coincidences?) are eerie, even when concerning such ordinary things as mugs. It makes one want to cry, ’twas meant to be! But was it? Does the cosmos care if your father gets the right mug, no disrespect to your father? Or possibly we have some kind of power to make coincidences happen for ourselves? But then why the weird ones? Why????
Thank you for a delightful read. I am off to buy The Red Notebook.
I found you through Antique Mommy. Your post has made me think. I wonder how many coincidences I could notice in a day or a week? Hmmm. Have you ever seen the film “Serendipity” with John Cusack? It’s sort of along the same lines.
Love that firm’s name…Argue&Phibbs. Fantastic!
Hi…! I am here via the Antique Mommy detour! I loved your post. And even though I don’t usually do memes, I am tempted to do one just so I can include a link to your post (oh, and post a pic of my favourite mug which is about…um…26 years old! OMG am I really that old??!!!).
Another one of my favorite bloggers just posted about Paul Auster. Country Dweller at Calvesgarden Calendar writes about him here. I have never read Auster’s work but I guess now I’ll have to.
I love coincidences. The one with you reading the book is just wild. I don’t understand how people go through life just ignoring/downplaying them.
Visited Veronica’s site to take a gander at that mug! OMG
I noted your discussion on ‘The Red Notebooks’ through Mrs Mitchel’s link. The stories are true, I believe, and not usually listed as fiction in his bibliography. Auster also hosted a popular programme on American National Radio in the late nineties where the listeners told the same kind of stories from their own lives. He edited a book with stories from the programme, ‘True Tales of American Life’ (2001), which you may like to read if you enjoyed The Notebooks.
I don’t think Auster ‘embellishes’ the stories (that would be cheating), but I’m sure he leaves things out. Actually, I think he’s the master of leaving things out in everything he writes.
I don’t know if you’ve heard the true story, which travelled the world news last year, of the Finnish twin brothers who were killed in two identical traffic accidents a few hours apart. They were both hit from behind by a truck on the same road as they were bicycling home. If you google it, you’ll get hundreds of hits, from the highly academic to the semi-religious.
When you learn that the twins were 71 and riding home in a blizzard on a very busy road, even the second accident is not very surprising, I think. Moreover, the odds of something happening are often very different from what you’d expect. In his gem of a book, the short novel ‘Timbuktu’(1999), he writes of this in a deeply moving way. Please, don’t be discouraged that the story is told by an old dog. You’ll get used to it after a few pages.
It’s 3 am, I’ve insomnia, and I’m reading your archives. I’ve always wanted to peruse your book reviews, and this evening (ha!) I’m doing it.
How in the world did I miss this one just a few short months ago?! I do not know how. But what a delightful post.
And your dad? I’m with him. I, too, have a favorite mug — EVERYTHING tastes better in it. And, when I recently found it had a chip, I too, was devastated. Entirely devastated. So, now, with this post as inspiration, I’m off to Google my mug…
I don’t know if anyone is still reading this, but hey, I just found it so who knows. My coincidence, or sort-of coincidence: I’ve just finished reading New York Trilogy and am fascinated by its themes so decided to google Auster. When not reading, I am the owner of a new bookshop in a small fishing village close to Cape Town, South Africa. Recently, I contacted the local publishers of Siri Hustvedt to enquire about the possibility of hosting her in my shop when she’s out here for a literary festival in June 2007 (in another village close to Cape Town, called Franschhoek — come and visit, you’ll love it here). I had no idea she is married to Paul Auster until I googled him. Now, of course, I also want to get him to visit my bookshop. Paul — are you reading this?