Abstract
The prevailing motifs of Auster’s literary oeuvre such as chance, contingent events, writing and the binary opposition of reader and author are also noticeable in Paul Auster’s Invisible; however, in this article, we examine the novel in terms of the characters’ psychological attempts to form their different identifications within Lacanian theoretical framework. Born acts as both reified big Other and object petit a for Walker, while Walker, in his different encounters with Born, experiences disparate Zizekian parallax views. Holding such views, Walker stands in the middle of the various courses of subjectivities, thereby undergoing a complicated interwoven subjectivity. Furthermore, Born’s encounters with the Real, epitomized in Born, place him in the two concurrent positions of subjectivities both in the Imaginary and the Symbolic order. As a result, his constant Symbolic identifications with signifying traits of Born’s bring him nothing but an aporia of logical perplexities. Last but not the least, we emphasize that the fluctuation between lost object and the loss itself, as an object, plums the depth of the anxieties embedded in such interwoven subjectivity.
Highlights
The Metaphysics of ChanceAuster’s literary world is full of the contingent events; in his writings, Auster puts emphasis on the incessant presence of chance and random occurrences
The fluctuation between lost object and the loss itself, as an object, plums the depth of the anxieties embedded in such interwoven subjectivity
Auster’s literary world is replete with the contingent events. This motif has been pinpointed in the urban environment of New York City
Summary
Auster’s literary world is full of the contingent events; in his writings, Auster puts emphasis on the incessant presence of chance and random occurrences. The conception of the author is another issue that Auster submits into scrutiny He confirms the fact that the author must analyze the ambiance in which he lives, and criticize the norms commonly accepted by the populace or even elite communities. Auster’s postmodern ruminations on authorship consider the author as a linguistic entity detached from the writing process, while the reader is regarded as the one who has to determine the fate of Auster’s diverse, and sometimes identical, protagonists. Such deconstruction is not restricted to the binary opposition of author and reader. The aforementioned motifs are prevalent in Invisible, in this article, we intend to illuminate how Auster’s characters, Born and Walker, lead their subjective life and how their fragmented identity is made out of the different trends of subjectivities they adopt, whether consciously or unconsciously
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