'Another History': Alternative Americas in Paul Auster's Fiction

González, Jesús Ángel

doi:10.1179/147757011x12983070064836

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Brick has a tendency to suppress a crucial story from his past, one that he has pushed to the margins of his mind on purpose. In the book's last chapters, González (2011) deftly explores the narrative's hidden layers, revealing the truth about August's complex relationship with his late wife, Sonia. The person in issue cheated on Sonia with another, younger woman, and eventually ended their relationship with Sonia.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Narrative Deconstruction and Dystopian Possibilities: Identity, Time, and Space in Paul Auster's ‘Man in the Dark’

Al-mosawi

2023

JAMRES

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Auster uses a complicated network of tales in which the presence of a conventional narrator stays elusive and the unique identity of the protagonist becomes mysterious to expertly immerse the reader into his literary works. Paul Auster uses a dual narrative framework in his work "Man in the Dark," with characters whose identities are not entirely clear, to question the veracity of grand stories. Because it tends to ignore the variety of voices present in literary works, Lyotard's theoretical framework on postmodernism scrutinizes the idea of embracing great narratives. Brill and Brick are essentially the same person in the story, although they have different goals and responsibilities. Brill crafts a story well and on purpose, trying to create an imaginary storyline revolving around the persona of Brick. Throughout his investigation into an America that differs from the current political status quo, Brill uses Brick as a surrogate character, a kind of created embodiment of his own identity. The novel's examination of dystopian themes, identity issues, and spatial and temporal confusion serves to highlight the possibilities of storytelling in its many forms. This literary work successfully challenges the truth of tales offered by interrogating the chronological link between the past and the present via the prism of reinterpretations and imaginations. Auster expertly constructs and deconstructs identities and narratives within an American setting in his writing. His skillful writing implies that the hidden or ignored details of these stories weaken the overall story and cast doubt on its veracity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Narrative Deconstruction and Dystopian Possibilities: Identity, Time, and Space in Paul Auster's ‘Man in the Dark’

Al-mosawi

2023

JAMRES

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“…Paolo Simonetti (2011) and Aliki Varvogli (2011) open the volume with the identification of Follies , Scriptorium and Man as a second trilogy with an increasingly more marked political agenda. The pairing of Scriptorium and Man is also pursued by González’s more recent article on alternative Americas in Auster’s fiction, which sees the novelistic ‘diptych’ (Auster, quoted in Teodoro) as an ideal continuation of the project of Moon Palace : all three texts attack the country’s dangerous subscription to the myths surrounding its creation and expose the call to arms against a common enemy as a ruse for the advancement of a conservative agenda (González 2011).…”

Section: A Political Auster For the Post‐postmodern Age?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Career and Critical Reception of Paul Auster

Ciocia¹

2012

Literature Compass

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This article offers an overview of the literary career of Paul Auster, a contemporary American writer whose prolific output commands a remarkably loyal following. Furthermore, it outlines the reasons for the polarized critical reception met by his novels, which continue to attract – by Auster’s own admission –‘the best reviews and the worst reviews of any writer I know’ (Burns, Carole. The Washington Post 16 Dec., 2003). Famous for his concern with the plight of the artist, and for his meditations on the power and the limitations of language, Auster has been typically analysed from a (largely a‐political) postmodern perspective. This article will therefore also consider the shift in recent Auster scholarship towards a re‐evaluation of the political charge of his fiction, especially in the light of his response to George W. Bush’s ‘war on terror’ in the wake of 9/11.

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Eden of Exiles: The Ethnicities of Paul Auster's Aesthetics

Moody¹

2015

Am Lit Hist

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'Another History': Alternative Americas in Paul Auster's Fiction

Cited by 5 publications

References 5 publications

Narrative Deconstruction and Dystopian Possibilities: Identity, Time, and Space in Paul Auster's ‘Man in the Dark’

Narrative Deconstruction and Dystopian Possibilities: Identity, Time, and Space in Paul Auster's ‘Man in the Dark’

The Career and Critical Reception of Paul Auster

Eden of Exiles: The Ethnicities of Paul Auster's Aesthetics

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