From Individual To Community:Philosophy,Textuality And Politics In The Writings Of Paul Auster

The American contemporary writer Paul Auster(1947—)is usually known as a“postmodern novelist” among readers.Due to the diversity of the literary forms and techniques of his works,most Paul Auster studies focus upon his postmodern narrative techniques and structure.The philosophical and political nature embedded within his writings has not received significant critical attention as of yet,leading to an underestimation of the rich and profound thought to be found within his novels.Although we could find numerous distinct postmodern narrative features in Auster’s novels,such as self-reflective languages,mise-en-abyme structures,or narrative techniques such as parody and intertextuality,these are not self-indulgent language games by any means.Auster is a writer keenly concerned about reality,and the textuality of his works is inseparable from their philosophical and political engagement.This dissertation examines Auster’s writings from the three aspects of philosophy,textuality and politics,with the purpose of explaining how the major concern of Auster’s novels changes,from the meaning of individual existence to the common destiny of a community,during his writing career.In the process of argumentation,I open the texts up to the work of a wide range of philosophical,cultural,historical and literary theorists,including Jean-Paul Sartre,Maurice Merleau-Ponty,Maurice Blanchot,Richard Rorty,Jean Baudrillard,Linda Hutcheon,and Hyden White,in order to analyze the philosophical,textual and political aspects of Auster’s writings,from individual existence to community destiny,as well as the internal connections among those three aspects.In terms of the choice of texts,the works selected in this dissertation are among Auster’s most representative and original writings,including The Invention of Solitude,The New York Trilogy,Moon Palace,Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story,Leviathan,The Book of Illusions,The Brooklyn Follies,Sunset Park,and 4321.Putting Auster’s works within the framework of literary tradition and social history,I hope to reveal both the philosophical basis and political consciousness of his works,as well as the language medium upon which the textual representation depends,with the purpose of offering a more comprehensive and profound understanding of Auster’s writings.Firstly,the issue of contingency provides the philosophical basis of Auster’s textual constructions.Strongly influenced by French existentialist phenomenology,Auster started his literary career by exploring the relationship between individual existence and the outside world.He believes that the world is not ruled by some universal law or truth;instead,it is composed of countless,contingent fragments.There is no predetermined meaning in the world.Individuals are therefore given the greatest freedom to create their own meanings.Through the power of imagination,an individual should look for and construct connections among the fragments of life,during the process of which meaning is created.Secondly,just as the existence of the individual is constructed,the so-called objective world is also the result of language construction.Auster has repeatedly blurred the boundary between reality and language in his writings,and his purpose is to emphasize the discursive and constructed nature of reality.To Auster,language is a form of living with a performative nature.There is no pre-existing language performer,and a discursive subject is constructed through language activities.The so-called “real world” that a subject observes depends upon the viewpoint from which he stands.Therefore,the subject’s interpretation of the world is constructive and fictitious.Lastly,as a writer who is keenly concerned about reality,Auster understands individuals and the world in the context of their socio-historical background.To him,his identity as an“American” is merely his perspective of observing the world.While his own life experience informs his earlier literary creations,during the latter part of his career,Auster’s writings seem to be more interested in the historical and political issues facing America.As Auster incorporates increasingly historical and political contexts into his fictional constructions,individuals are connected within a broader community,and his political ideas are more clearly presented.Through writing about individual to writing about America,Auster’s writings lead to the following questions: What does it mean to be a human being? What does it mean to be an “American”? And what does it mean to be “Americans”? Through the empathetic experience of his fictional writings,readers can perceive a new recognition and understanding of both themselves and America.In this sense,fiction creates some significance in reality.