Synopsis
The narrator, Paul Auster, buys his Dutch cigarettes in a Brooklyn’s shop whose owner, of literary pseudonym Auggie Wren, has a hobby: taking pictures always from the same angle of his street at different times, in different seasons throughout the whole year, and year after year. When the New York Times asks Paul for a Christmas tale, it will be Auggie who helps him with a strange story about the rooting out, poverty and smooth revenge that seems to be gradually destroying the christmas spirit.

This story was published in the New York Times during Christmas time in 1990. When reading it, the film director Wayne Wang decided to contact Auster to offer him the script of a film that included the story. Although Auggie Wren's christmas story does not appear until the end of the movie, “Smoke” was born out of this experience.

About the author
Paul Auster, American novelist, poet, scritpwriter and a British Literature graduate, began his career as a poet and essayist for several magazines. Influenced by Dostoievsky, his works characterized by the complex mix between reality and fantasy are often concerned with the search for identity and personal meaning. Auster earned his B.A. and M.A. in English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where he discovered French poets and started his writing career as a poet, translator, and essayist.