The Invention of Solitude is Paul Auster's debut memoir, published in 1982.

The first part, Portrait of an Invisible Man, is about the sudden death of Auster's father.

[7] The Invention of Solitude is split into two parts, respectively titled Portrait of an Invisible Man and The Book of Memory.

[8] According to Encyclopædia Britannica, The Invention of Solitude is "both a memoir about the death of his father and a meditation on the act of writing".

[9] This first part of The Invention of Solitude is about the unexpected death of Samuel Auster,[2] and it describes the latter's life, influence,[10] and idiosyncracies.