Here and Now

“[A] civilized discourse between two cultivated and sophisticated men . . . A pleasure to be in their company.”—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

“These two famous writers might seem at first an unlikely pairing . . . [but] as a series of collaborative inquiries and an extended meditation on the processes of friendship, the book has something substantive to offer.”—The New York Times Book Review

”Here and Now is akin to eavesdropping on a dazzling, extended dinner conversation between two intelligent and substantive minds. . . . A very appealing, human portrait of these two writers.”—Bookpage “A genial, often riveting exchange. Amiable and revealing missives from two remarkable minds.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A striking portrait of two great friends . . . the result of Auster and Coetzee’s exchange is nothing short of witty, sharp and thought-provoking, and offers a fascinating look into the minds of two of the twentieth century’s greatest writers.”—Malibu Magazine
Praise for J. M. Coetzee

“Many, this reviewer among them, would consider [Coetzee] the greatest living novelist in English.”—The New York Times Book Review“Coetzee may turn out to be one of the last great novelists, exalted by the intensity of his self-awareness and his willingness to make his home in a spiritual and intellectual impasse of which few of his contemporaries were even aware.”—The Nation

“South Africa’s most brilliant novelist . . . challenges us to doubt our preconceived notions not only of love but of truth itself.”—The Seattle Times

“Coetzee’s signature brilliance . . . A mixture of penetrating insight and brittle wit that forces our attention on common terrors we don’t want to think about.”—The Washington Post


Praise for Paul Auster

“A writer of lean, genre-tinged novels whose unaffected prose belies their philosophical complexity . . . He’s also one of our most playful novelists, a lover of narrative labyrinths on par with Borges, to whom he has often been compared.”—The Washington Post“Paul Auster is one of those sages with confounding talent—confounding for one because he’s simply that good. . . . He belongs among Vonnegut, Roth, and DeLillo.”—The Daily Beast