Writer/director of 'The Inner Life of Martin Frost' to discuss film

The UCLA Department of English and the Friends of English invite you to a film screening and discussion of "The Inner Life of Martin Frost" with acclaimed author and film director Paul Auster on Monday, Jan. 14, at 7:30 p.m. in the James Bridge Theater, 1409 Melnitz Hall. A reading of Auster's new book, to be published in this year, precedes the film.

Auster, who collaborated with Wayne Wang on "Smoke" (1995), a movie he wrote and co-directed, brings his most original and captivating film to UCLA. "The Inner Life of Martin Frost" is at once tender, moving and devilishly funny.

The film tells the story of novelist Martin Frost, who decides to rest his mind alone in a country house following the publication of his latest book, but on his first day, he awakens to find the mysterious, beautiful and intelligent Claire lying beside him. In Claire, Frost finds a muse for his most perfect piece, but is Claire the person she claims to be? The philosophical mystery asks us to question the manner we define reality and how we choose to see the world around us.

Born in Newark, N.J., the Brooklyn-based novelist and poet graduated from Columbia University in 1970. Since making his debut in 1982 with his memoir, "The Invention of Solitude," Auster has published numerous books, poems and screenplays.

He first gained renown from a collectively published series of loosely connected-detective stories, "The New York Trilogy" (1987). In 1996, Auster received the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay and the Bodil Award for Best American Film for "Smoke." Auster, vice president of the PEN American Center, an organization to advance literature and defend free expression, was named an honorary doctor by the University of Liège in 2007.

To attend the Jan. 14 event, reservations are required. E-mail friends@english.ucla.edu.