''The Red Notebook'' is a
story-in-a-story collection by
Paul Auster
Paul Benjamin Auster (born February 3, 1947) is an American writer and film director. His notable works include ''The New York Trilogy'' (1987), ''Moon Palace'' (1989), ''The Music of Chance'' (1990), ''The Book of Illusions'' (2002), ''The Broo ...
. The book consists of four parts, all stories which had appeared previously: ''The Red Notebook'' (1995), ''Why Write?'' (1996), ''Accident Report'' (1999) and ''It Don't Mean a Thing'' (2000). They are true stories gathered from Auster's life as well as the lives of his friends and acquaintances and they have all one thing in common: the paradox of coincidence. Auster narrates things he writes about in his fiction, making one wonder if he's really telling the truth. Implying that everything and everyone is somehow, mysteriously, connected to each other.
Auster tells about the wrong number that inspired him to write ''City of Glass'', about how he met his childhood hero
Willie Mays
Willie Howard Mays Jr. (born May 6, 1931), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid" and "Buck", is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). Regarded as one of the greatest players ever, Mays ranks second behind only Babe Ruth on most all-tim ...
, but didn't have a pencil with him to get his autograph and how during all four flat tires of his life he had the same passenger in the car with him.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Red Notebook, The
American short story collections
1995 short story collections
Faber and Faber books