Abstract
The works of American novelist Paul Auster (1947- ) are uniquely concerned with the mythology of self, metanarrative and the role gender plays in these transactions. In his earliest works, The New York Trilogy (1985-1986) and In the Country of Last Things (1987), Auster uses genre conventions and styles (for the former, detective novels; for the latter, dystopian fiction) to interrogate these preconceptions of self-mythology and the role of gender within these genres, subverting tropes and traits of these works to comment upon them. In the following, we investigate these works in depth along these themes, conducting a close textual analysis from the framework of Freudian and Lacanian theories of psychoanalysis and poststructuralism. By investigating the roles of women in The New York Trilogy and In the Country of Last Things, we hope to illuminate Auster’s uniquely postmodernist, deconstructive approach to the psychological imperatives women are socialized into within American society, and how they are informed by narrative and mythology. The role of women, from the absent trophies of The New York Trilogy to the central voice of sanity of Anna in In the Country of Last Things, posits women as a societal superego whose goal it is to keep the destructive, nihilistic id-like impulses of men in check.
Highlights
Identity, gender and mythology are essential components to the fabric of human society as we know it
The way in which we investigate those narratives can often lead us to greater insights into our individual and collective psyches, bringing us closer to answers regarding the essential nature of mankind and our mythology
The works of American novelist Paul Auster (1947-) are uniquely concerned with the mythology of self, metanarrative and the role gender plays in these transactions
Summary
Gender and mythology are essential components to the fabric of human society as we know it. The mythology of self, the process by which we determine and craft our own individual importance to the community at large, is increasingly important to this investigation. Often, this self-mythology is negotiated or mitigated by one’s gender, and the social prescriptions and limitations on what people of certain genders can do. The works of American novelist Paul Auster (1947-) are uniquely concerned with the mythology of self, metanarrative and the role gender plays in these transactions. By investigating the roles of women in The New York Trilogy and In the Country of Last Things, we hope to illuminate Auster’s uniquely postmodernist, deconstructive approach to the psychological imperatives women are socialized into within American society, and how they are informed by narrative and mythology
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