4321 (Complete in Two Volumes)

Name: 4321 (Complete in Two Volumes)
ISBN: 9787510872662

Paul Auster / 李鹏程Jiuzhou Press · ChinaOct 2020

4.3

Word count: 614K words
Chapters: 30
ISBN: 9787510872662

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Summary

On March 3, 1947, in a maternity ward in Newark, New Jersey, Archie Isaac Ferguson, the only child of Rose and Stanley, was born. From that moment on, Ferguson's life unfolds along four independent, parallel paths. Four boys are the same boy, shaped by the same DNA, yet each follows a different trajectory through four distinct lives. The four Fergusons grow up in different towns, with different intellectual passions, love lives, and social circles; they mirror one another like shadows, illuminate one another, and arrive at different fates. Against the backdrop of a turbulent, transforming American society, the Fergusons race along their separate youthful paths, enduring pain, loss, and transformation... A panoramic work of social realism, a singular epic coming-of-age novel, an all-encompassing story about tradition, family, love, and modern life, about the gifts of the self and the possibilities of a life. "Paul Auster is one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature." 4 3 2 1 is a brilliant and deeply moving masterpiece.

Editor's review

4 3 2 1 is Paul Auster's major novel, built around a boy's four parallel lives and fusing the coming-of-age novel with social realism. The four paths are not a display of technical virtuosity for its own sake; rather, they allow the same gifts to be repeatedly refracted through different family atmospheres, urban environments, and historical opportunities, so that readers see how chance shapes destiny and how limits underlie every choice. Auster's narration is patient and dense, his detail richly layered, and his depictions of family relations, youthful desire, political upheaval, and artistic aspiration all carry an autobiographical warmth. At two volumes, the book is substantial and suited to literary readers willing to sink into a long read, as well as to those interested in the social transformations of the later twentieth-century United States. There is no need to rush to judge which life is more "correct"; instead, attend to the mirroring among the four Fergusons and to the interpretive space the narrator creates through juxtaposition.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers who enjoy long coming-of-age novels and are willing to follow characters as their lives unfold slowly
Readers interested in Paul Auster's work and contemporary American literature
Reflective readers concerned with themes of identity, chance, and life's possibilities
Readers who hope to understand the social atmosphere of the later twentieth-century United States through fiction

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer tightly plotted, fast-paced narratives
Readers with fragmented reading time who find it hard to commit to a long novel
Readers who find the parallel-lives structure repetitive and lose patience with it

Reading tips

Read the volumes in order first, without constantly cross-referencing the four life lines; on the first pass, simply follow the story
Keep a one-page note for each Ferguson, recording key figures and turning points for later reference
Slow down at similar scenes across different paths and notice how small differences alter the characters' trajectories
After finishing, reread the branch that moved you most and consider how it echoes the other three

About the publisher

Jiuzhou Press China · Founded in 1993

Jiuzhou Press is a comprehensive publisher with humanities, social sciences, and classic works as important publishing directions, maintaining a sustained focus on philosophy, history, literature, and social culture. Its catalogue includes works by modern literary masters such as Xiao Hong and Lu Xun, as well as intellectual and art history works by Xu Fuguan, including A History of Chinese Theories of Human Nature: Pre-Qin Volume, A History of Han Thought, and The Spirit of Chinese Art: A Study of Shitao. It also translates and introduces overseas academic works such as Peter H. Wilson's The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy and Peter Suber's The Case of the Speluncean Explorers, and covers cross-cultural exchange themes such as From Dunhuang to Samarkand. Its publishing character lies in balancing the organization of original texts with academic translation, forming relatively stable author and title resources in categories including philosophy, military affairs, theory, and social culture. More complete information about the press's publishing history and plans is limited in publicly available sources; this summary is based only on the titles in the catalogue.

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FAQ

Do the four life lines need to be read in comparison with one another?

Not deliberately on the first pass. Auster presents the four paths side by side; by following each line naturally at first, readers preserve a sense of unfamiliarity and suspense. When you look back after finishing, comparing key moments makes it easier to see how family, city, and era operate differently across the paths.

Is this book suitable as an introduction to Auster?

It can serve as an introduction, but note that it is long and full of threads; it is not a light, short work. To get acquainted with Auster's narrative style first, you might start with his shorter fiction; if you are willing to invest in a long novel, this book offers a fairly complete view of his sustained thinking about identity and chance.

Will the repetition make reading feel tiring?

The four lines share the same protagonist's birth and some elements of his life, so similar scenes do recur. It helps to see this repetition as part of the work's structure and to focus on the subtle differences in each recurrence rather than treating it as redundancy; if you feel tired, read in sections and keep brief notes.

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About the author

Paul Auster Author · American · 1947–2024

Paul Auster (1947–2024) was an American novelist, poet, translator, screenwriter and film director, born in Newark, New Jersey, and a graduate of Columbia University. He is best known for The New York Trilogy, and his other major works include The Invention of Solitude, The Book of Illusions, 4321 and Winter Journal; his books have been translated into more than forty languages. His writing often blends detective fiction with metafictional devices, moving among themes of mistaken identity, chance and necessity, memory and solitude, with nested narratives and a spare, reflective prose that resists easy classification. Our catalogue holds twelve of his works, spanning foreign literature, mystery and science fiction. He died in Brooklyn on April 30, 2024, from complications of lung cancer.

李鹏程 Author

Li Pengcheng is an author about whom little public information is available; what can be confirmed comes mainly from six books he has translated or contributed to. Judging from the works in the database, his work centers on two areas: foreign literature and world history. In literature he has been involved in Chinese translations of English-language novels such as Of Mice and Men and 4321, while in history his translations include works on Britain, slavery, and the American Revolution, as well as a book on Poland. These are mostly long narrative texts that combine literary qualities with historical depth, requiring the translator to grasp character, period, and institutional context beyond mere language transfer. Because no reliable records of his birth and death dates, nationality, or education are available, his overall style cannot be fully assessed; based on existing translations, one can only say that his choices tend toward classics and serious nonfiction, with translations that seek to convey the structure of the originals faithfully.