paul auster is dead

yesterday horsemouth and his mum visited TESCOs (the kettle had died and needed replacing). the bbc weather reported rain all day for yesterday and grey for today but seems to have become more optimistic with time and is now showing more sun (as a possibility). we shall see. 

horsemouth made sure to get a two pack of  lavazza and a block of cheddar (and four more butty bachs). 

after that horsemouth went for a wander round on the common and found himself stamping round in a high dudgeon for no real reason - his house in london he finds frustrating, co-op politics he finds frustrating, and off he goes when really he should be paying more attention to careful footing and the beautiful scenery. (no he did not fall over in the mud this time). 

horsemouth is thinking about the possibilities of camping in hereford (at the hereford rowing club) and thus getting out and seeing some weirdshire gigs. also there's a sharron kraus/ alula down gig july 3rd  in nearby ledbury for example (scroll down for the details) and ledbury is even on the train line from london. remind him to pick up his tent and a sleeping bag when he next goes back. some friends are over the weekend of the 18th may and he's back cat-sitting on the borderlands from the 25th.to early june. 

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paul auster has died. 

auster translated one of horsemouth's favourite books, pierre clastres' chronique des indiens guayaki. ce que savent les aché, chasseurs nomades du paraguay into the english text chronicle of the guayaki indians. this  horsemouth found in a second hand bookshop and read.   

the translation itself was found in a second hand bookshop having been  presumed lost. it was rescued from oblivion, the same oblivion reaching out to destroy the guayaki indians. horsemouth was surprised to discover any of the guayaki living such is the dismal picture clastres paints of their future. horsemouth does not know if the band studied by clastres still survives, even if they are almost all the individuals who met clastres will be dead. 

‘although I have been back to paraguay several times, I have never seen the guayaki indians again. I have not had the heart to...’

clastres is himself dead. dead in a car accident. auster wrote; 

 ‘no matter that the world described in it has long since vanished, that the tiny group of people the author lived with in 1963 and 1964 has disappeared from the face of the earth. no matter that the author has vanished as well. the book he wrote is still with us... a small triumph against the crushing odds of fate...’

and now auster is dead.