Authorship & Theory in Paul Auster

In a previous article I argued that Paul Auster’s The New York Trilogy is an exploration into The difficulties and desire to know another and that the first two of these texts read as a postmodern take on the detective novel, a genre that typically revolves around one human being following another and interpreting the movements and actions of this person in an attempt to understand the followed Other. In this article I will argue for a completely different reading of the text. Instead of focusing on the consequences of a prolonged absence of the Other I will instead argue that Auster’s The New York Trilogy is in fact an exploration into modern concepts of authorship and approaches to literary theory.

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August 5, 2014 | Categories: Criticism | Tags: Authorship, Identity, Literary Criticism, New York Trilogy, Paul Auster, Theory | Leave a comment