A Conceptual Spacial Interpretation Of Jewishness Of The New York Trilogy

Hailed as one of the most representative modern American Jewish writers,Paul Auster is excellent in transforming the thought-provoking predicaments in the labyrinthine spaces.Rich in intangible spaces and cultural meanings,The New York Trilogy is a masterpiece that presents a variety of coding or decoding spaces.Currently the research on this trilogy is mainly concerned with post-modernity,narrative strategies,metaphysical detective novels while it should not underestimate the relationship between the author’s Jewish identity and the meaningful spaces.Therefore,by combining Henri Lefebvre’s conceptual triad spacial theory with its reproductive function and the Jewish background of the author,this thesis attempts to decrypt the Jewishness in different spaces.The analysis indicates the claustrophobic personal space exhibits the individual loneliness of the Jewry and the cold public space embodies an alienation of spiritual ghettos;the abstract symbolic Babel tower,and the metaphorical aphasia---writing and speech in mental space reflect a kind of Jewish self-redemption and a Jewish resistance or obedience;the images of wanderers and businessmen in social spaces cast light upon the perplexity of the Jewish identity and the inherent Jewish business wisdom;and finally this thesis comes to the conclusion that the loneliness attributes to the sense of insecurity and the pursuit for freedom;those inventors suffer much more in those coded mental spaces;and the modern Jewish people perhaps would not easy to escape from such inherent sufferings except acceptance and tolerance.In short,the study can provide readers a macroscopic view over the structure of the novel and offer readers a relatively comprehensive understanding over space and cultural meanings.