An old man sits in a room, with a single door and window, a bed, a desk and a chair. Each day he awakes with no memory, unsure of whether or not he is locked into the room. Attached to the few objects around him are one-word, hand-written, labels and on the desk is a series of vaguely familiar black-and-white photographs and four piles of paper. Then a middle-aged woman called Anna enters and talks of pills and treatment, but also of love and promises. Who is this Mr Blank, and what is his fate? What does Anna represent from his past - and will he have enough time to ever make sense of the clues that arise? After the huge success of The Brooklyn Follies, Travels in the Scriptorium sees Auster return to more metaphysical territory. A dark puzzle, and a game that implicates both reader and writer alike, it is an ingenious exploration of language, responsibility and the passage of time.
保罗·奥斯特，一九四七年出生于美国新泽西州纽瓦克市一个犹太裔中产阶级家庭，毕业于哥伦比亚大学。他被视为美国当代最勇于创新的小说家之一。
保罗·奥斯特年轻时过着漂泊无定的生活，不断尝试各种工作。一九七〇年至一九七四年，他客居巴黎，靠翻译法国文学为生。
保罗·奥斯特的主要作品有小说《布鲁克林的荒唐事》、《纽约三部曲》、《幻影书》等。曾获法国美第奇最佳外国小说奖、西班牙阿斯图里亚斯王储文学奖，作品被翻译成三十多种文字。他编剧的电影《烟》于一九九六年获得柏林电影节银熊奖和最佳编剧奖。
保罗·奥斯特现定居纽约布鲁克林区。