StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Literary Austerity In Paul Austers Ghosts - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
Paul Auster is not the usual American storyteller. He has consciously eschewed the trappings of realism and conventional plot for more complex stylistic methods. The paper "Literary Austerity In Paul Auster’s Ghosts" discusses Ghosts as a masterly evocation of the meta-detective novel…
Download free paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER98% of users find it useful
Literary Austerity In Paul Austers Ghosts
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Literary Austerity In Paul Austers Ghosts"

 Literary Austerity In Paul Auster’s Ghosts Paul Auster is not the usual American storyteller. He has consciously eschewed the trappings of realism and conventional plot for more complex stylistic methods. Yet it is difficult to find a novelist who is more profoundly American in his understanding of the enormity of the American experience. As Garan Holcombe says, “Paul Auster is a writer, who, like Beckett, is obsessed with identity and the way it is constructed out of and through the medium of stories, words, or even the thinnest of airs. He places great emphasis on the need for storytelling. His characters are restless inquisitors, asking endless questions of life, undertaking journeys across the vastness of America, often in solitude, in pursuit of ends which even they themselves are unaware; and if these characters are not travelling outwards, then there is always the journey within.” 1 Auster’s narratives are elliptical, abstract and metaphysical. The comparison with Beckett is not extraneous because like Beckett, who in the least words and even lesser actions created an overwhelmingly powerful literary impression of post-war Europe, Auster has done it for America, except that unlike Beckett, Auster does not always refer to defining political moments but literary ones. For example, he has turned the detective story on its head in his path breaking New York Trilogy, of which Ghosts is the middle one. Similarly his search for that elusive American experience has found fruition in the True Tales of American Life, a broadcast project that sought to present real life stories from all over the States. While reading Auster, one is increasingly aware of the slippery, elusive nature of reality and identity. One can even say that identity is a shifting reality in Auster. And Auster’s oeuvre, in Ghosts as much as in any other specimen of his body of work, has been to relentlessly problematise the identity of reality and the reality of any identity. In his discussion of The Locked Room¸ the third and by consensus the most powerful part of the New York Trilogy, Stephen Bernstein says “In The Locked Room, as in the other novels of Paul Auster's New York Trilogy, the path the reader follows diverges considerably from what might be expected in conventional detective fiction. This is due to what are, by this stage in the trilogy, predictable recourses to narratorial unreliability, epis­temological uncertainty, and existential contingency.”2 The same can be inferred for Ghosts, where a private detective called Blue is investigating a man named Black for a client named White. Auster is of course playing on our apriori notions of the three colours. The client being White the fugitive being Black is obviously a satire on the exiting framework of references that a detective novel throws up. Almost as an apriori knowledge we seem to let ourselves be carried away by the innocence of the man who has approached the detective and the criminal intent of the man being chased. In that sense white and black is what we have already assigned to the characters without Auster have to name them for us. But Auster, being what he is, starts from there and tries to dismember our notions that we have deeply held close from Poe, to Chandler via Conan Doyle. Like its compatriots in the Trilogy, City of Glass and The Locked Room, Ghosts is a play on identities and self fashioning and to what extent we can refigure and reconstitute ourselves and our ability to do so. In Ghosts, Black and White turns out to be the same person. And that too a writer. In fact all three protagonists in all three novels of the Trilogy is a writer and ostensibly all of them are Auster or part of Auster. But we neither know clearly the other Auster, or the other half of the character who is partly like Auster. While in this confusion the reader find out that in Ghosts Black/White, the man who is both the client and the fugitive criminal and who has assigned Blue with an investigation is watching Blue watching himself. And he is writing a story on Blue watching White/Black. If this is not a brilliant caricature of everything that detective fiction has stood for and what Hitchcock and Hollywood has for ages so effectively sold to an wide audience, what is? The most important literary trope of conventional detective fiction is that the writer is not the all-knowing omnipresent narrator but is a co-walker, a fellow traveler with the reader who is watching along with him, how a mystery unfolds. Here, the detective is the man with a better vantage point than either the writer, the reader and of course the man on the run. The writer of course knows the course of events when he sits to write a novel but must pretend innocence to the reader and must take part in his/her discoveries throughout the span of the narrative. In Ghosts two things happen simultaneously which usurp the conventional framework of the detective fiction. And by doing so, Auster has most skillfully deconstructed the identity of each one of them. I have already explained the identification with the colors given as names to characters. But even while we are engrossed in the narrative , we come to realized that the client and criminal is the same. He has assigned Blue with a job and watches Blue following him. And while doing so, records the events. Here the man who is both Black and White has the usual vantage point than the detective has in a conventional story. Here the detective is merely an undiscerning character in the larger theatrics of hide and seek, illumination and gloom, a puppet in the elaborate mood play that the writer has created. Here, the writer who has set the man into his mission and at the same time makes a mockery of that same mission is the real character, the god, the vantaged narrator and the vantaged creator of that narration. And interestingly it’s the detective who is at the other side of the mirror and not the criminal and not even the reader. He reader finds out that along with the writer he/she is also vantaged to watch the detective from a distance rather than following the eyes of the detective while he investigates -- as is usual in conventional fiction. Auster turns literary conventions and tropes of received identity mechanism on their head. Look at this text closely. … should he stick with Black or divert his attention to the woman? This could possibly accelerate matters a bit but at the same time it could mean that Black would be given a chance to escape away from him, perhaps for good. In other words, is the meeting with the women a smoke screen or the real thing? Is it s a part of the case or not, is it an essential or contingent fact? Blue ponder this questions for a while and concludes that it’s too early to tell. Yes, it could be one thing, he tells himself. But it could also be another. (p 183) Auster clearly is not interested in putting the reader is a state of sublime suspense; he would rather play with the reader, tease him and invite them to read his mind. Suspense in Auster is not about what will happen next, but to see how the expected will never happen. He transfers the questions of the readers to that of the detective and allows him to have doubts, reading his mind in public, so to say. Here Blue is not sure and is in fact increasingly uncertain if he should consider this apparently insignificant even as critical or should overlook the matter entirely. This is just one textual example of Blue’s utter confused state, a state that Black relishes no end, till of course the inevitable happens in the end. 3 By killing Black, Blue is able to bring closure; is able to do away with the ‘criminal’. But by killing White, who is also Black, Blue signs a permanent breach. He is now the new murderer, the new criminal. Ghosts, in that sense, is a masterly evocation of the meta-detective novel. And a ghostly interpretation of our long held certainties. Matthias Kugler has noted4 “Paul Auster seems to be an the right way of leaving the stony ground of ‘The Literature of Exhaustion’, which according to John Barth only leads to ‘replenishment’ if we creatively make use of 'what has been there before'. There is hardly anybody is America to do it better than him. Read More
Tags
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Literary Austerity In Paul Austers Ghosts Essay”, n.d.)
Literary Austerity In Paul Austers Ghosts Essay. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/literature/1500132-argumentative-essay-write-about-identity-home-and-work-from-paul-austers-ghosts-you-can-focus-on-one-ore-more-of-these-concepts-as-it-is-depicted-in-the-n
(Literary Austerity In Paul Austers Ghosts Essay)
Literary Austerity In Paul Austers Ghosts Essay. https://studentshare.org/literature/1500132-argumentative-essay-write-about-identity-home-and-work-from-paul-austers-ghosts-you-can-focus-on-one-ore-more-of-these-concepts-as-it-is-depicted-in-the-n.
“Literary Austerity In Paul Austers Ghosts Essay”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/literature/1500132-argumentative-essay-write-about-identity-home-and-work-from-paul-austers-ghosts-you-can-focus-on-one-ore-more-of-these-concepts-as-it-is-depicted-in-the-n.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Literary Austerity In Paul Austers Ghosts

Jane Austens Satires in Her Literary Works

In the essay “Jane Austen's Satires in Her literary Works” the author focuses on the satire of the literary creations of Jane Austen.... hellip; The author states that Austen's literary works heralded the transition in English literature from neo-classicism to romanticism.... Satire is the hallmark of the literary creations of Jane Austen and it is the outcome of her interaction with family members, her un-fructified romantic relationship and her middle class status in the society....
5 Pages (1250 words) Research Paper

From Saul to Paul: Saul of Tarsus' Conversion

Saul to paul Saul of Tarsus' Conversion St.... paul was known as Saul of Tarsus before his pivotal conversion to Christianity.... Through out his missionary work (where he began being referred to as paul) he endured physical and verbal assaults and hardships, which only strengthened his faith in Christ and brought him closer to God and his work (“Saul of Tarsus”).... The early part of paul's journeys brought him to Antioch where he preached that Jesus was a descendant of David and that he was brought to Israel by God (Padfield)....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

The Global Economy: An Austerity Measure

The paper evaluates the austerity measures followed by the EU and the spending on public works of China and the control of the country over bank lending.... nbsp;… An austerity measure can be defined as the official action taken by the government that aims to reduce the amount of government expenditure or the amount that is spent by the people (Jackson, 2011.... nbsp; EU austerity measures The direct result of the financial crisis that was faced by the European Union was the rise in public indebtedness....
4 Pages (1000 words) Assignment

Austerity and Stimulus Dispute

This paper " austerity and Stimulus Dispute" focuses on the fact that austerity or stimulus has been the most common debate heating headlines in most western countries.... For example, Britain's coalition government, Germany, and the Tea Company located in the USA support the austerity topic.... hellip; The main idea behind austerity and stimulus dispute is simple; if you got a lot of debt then you should stop spending to avoid a financial crisis....
5 Pages (1250 words) Assignment

The Ministers Black Veil

The paper “The Minister's Black Veil” seeks to evaluate a puzzling story about the masks everyone wears as a means of hiding secret sin.... A close examination of Hawthorne's story reveals a deeper meaning within his symbol of the black veil, a message regarding the power of the symbol itself....
10 Pages (2500 words) Book Report/Review

Implications for Social Policy in an Age of Austerity

The paper "Implications for Social Policy in an Age of austerity" highlights that generally, state education can largely be affected by austerity.... In this day and age, austerity should not be considered as a means of improving the region's budget.... There are many disadvantages that come with austerity to a majority of individuals in any regions that facing these measures.... The austerity policies might be reducing the deficit budgets that these economies have suffered....
8 Pages (2000 words) Coursework

Einstein and Ghosts

Ghost hunters believe ghost existence is in modern physics, since Einstein scientifically offered basis for ghost existence. Recently 8 million results linking Einstein's… on conservation of energy and ghosts, was found on Google which is repeated by ghost researcher John Kachuba, who writes that Einstein proved that energy is constant and can transform into another form after death, which maybe a ghost!... ecently 8 million results linking Einstein's work on conservation of energy and ghosts, was found on Google which is repeated by ghost researcher John Kachuba, who writes that Einstein proved that energy is constant and can transform into another form after death, which maybe a ghost!...
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Austerity Measures of European Governments

This essay “austerity Measures of European Governments” argues that the austerity measures were used on creditors, the government, companies and citizens of the European countries.... hellip; The author states that with political motivations, governments of the Euro zone have developed austerity measures to demonstrate their discipline to their creditors and credit rating agencies.... With political motivations, governments of the Euro zone have developed austerity measures to demonstrate their discipline to their creditors and credit rating agencies....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us