"Rear Window" Narrative And Voyeurism In The New York Trilogy

The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster(1947-),an eminent American novelist,is a collection of three stories,including City of Glass,Ghosts and The Locked Room,which are independent yet essentially interrelated “anti-detective” fictions sharing high intertextuality with the film works of the master director,Alfred Hitchcock(1899-1980).This thesis proposes to study the legacy of Hitchcock’s classic narrative devices,such as MacGuffin and self-referentiality,in constructing Auster’s postmodern storytelling and exemplifying postmodernity.Focusing on the recurrent motif of gazing and self-introspecting in The New York Trilogy in the light of “voyeurism”,which originates from Hitchcock’s Rear Window and becomes an influential concept in cinema studies and addresses the reaction between the observer,or the “voyeur” and his object,this thesis adopts an interdisciplinary and comparative approach and analyzes the convergence of the images of “voyeur” in both Austerian texts and Rear Window in terms of narrative point-of-view.Under Auster’s pen,the subject of watching is not only the fictional private investigator but also the “author-character” he creates out of his own experience,which shapes the authorship in Auster’s meta-narrative.The object of gaze,however,reflects Paul Auster’s thoughts about gender and nature.Rather than being an isolated and art phenomenon,voyeurism in The New York Trilogy carries realistic meaning for personal redemption of the urban loners who live in a powerful information age.While in Auster’s historical scope,the self-introspection in these voyeurs’ eyes is a way of pursuing happiness and fulfilling their “American Dreams”,which is encrypted as a myth long existing in American cultures and carried forward in the presidency of Ronald Reagan.This thesis consists of five parts.Beginning with an outline of contemporary Austerian studies,especially of the Chinese scholarship,the first part is an introduction about the feasibility and originality of the interdisciplinary and intertextual approach adopted by this thesis based on the intertexuality between novel and film.Following the introduction there is a chapter of detailed discussion of the definition of “anti-detective” narrative,which is also a common point shared in both Austerian and Hitchcockian texts.While focusing on Auster’s inheriting and developing of Hitchcock’s classic narrative devices: MacGuffin and self-referentiality,this chapter is devoted to exploring how he effectively transforms the cinematic mode of storytelling into his signature postmodern style.The following three chapters are a specific case study of the so-called “voyeurism” in Auster’s stories,and it is the major argument of this thesis as well.Chapter Two gives the definition and symptoms of the voyeuristic phenomenon which originates in Hitchcock’s film Rear Window,and compares the images of “voyeur” in both forms of media: novel and film.The figures in The New York Trilogy not only gaze at people,but they also wholeheartedly observe nature and the world outside them as well.This section also elaborates how Auster is influenced by the well-known American transcendentalist Thoreau(1817-1862)on his view on the interrelationship between human and nature.Till the end of this chapter the thesis discusses about the “Rear Window” mode of storytelling and the motif of voyeurism inspired by Hitchcock’s work in Austerian text,and the following two parts are about interpretation of the “voyeurism” that carries different meanings from that of Hitchcockian cinema and builds Auster’s unique worldview.Holding a perspective of gender politics,Chapter Three analyzes the females in the book as objects of the gaze.Moreover,apart from textual analysis,how the subjectivity and authorship of Auster helps shaping the female role would be another key issue in question.Chapter Four puts “voyeurism” into the historical context of Reagan era and intends to interpret the literally abnormal behavior in the lens of the myths of “American Dream” and “New Frontier”.With the reference to the temporal social background,the failure of the voyeuristic behaviors and the images of the weakened men are explained as Auster’s negative attitude towards the popular values of consumerism and hyper-masculinity of that time.The last part is an overall review and a conclusion about the whole thesis.