In the Country of Last Things

paul auster

A dystopian epistolary novel. In the Country of Last Things takes the form of a letter from a young woman named Anna Blume to a childhood friend. Anna has ventured into an unnamed city that has collapsed into chaos and disorder. In this bleak environment, no industry takes place and most of the population collects garbage or scavenges for objects to resell. City governments are unstable and are concerned only with collecting human waste and corpses for fuel. Anna has entered the city to search for her brother William, a journalist, and it is suggested that the Blumes come from a world to the East which has not collapsed.

Genres fictiondystopiascience fictionnovelsamericanpost apocalypticliteraturethe united states of americacontemporaryliterary fiction

188 pages,

First published January 1,1987

This edition

Format: 188 pages,
Published: January 1, 1987 by
ISBN: 9783425040844
ASIN: 3425040847
Language: English

Characters More characters

Anna Blume

Anna Blume, the protagonist of the book, sets out on a quest to an uncanny place, to find her missing brother, William; only to fail and get trapped in a whirlpool ofviolence, fear and dehumanization....
Anne Blume

...
Samuel Farr

...
Victoria Woburn

...
Boris Stepanovich

...

About the author

paul auster

Paul Auster was the bestselling author of 4 3 2 1, Bloodbath Nation, Baumgartner, The Book of Illusions, and The New York Trilogy, among many other works. In 2006 he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature. Among his other honors are the Prix Médicis Étranger for Leviathan, the Independent Spirit Award for the screenplay of Smoke, and the Premio Napoli for Sunset Park. In 2012, he was the first recipient of the NYC Literary Honors in the category of fiction. He was also a finalist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (The Book of Illusions), the PEN/Faulkner Award (The Music of Chance), the Edgar Award (City of Glass), and the Man Booker Prize (4 3 2 1). Auster was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His work has been translated into more than forty languages. He died at age seventy-seven in 2024.