Paul Auster’s postmodern characters: a relativistic/referential dichotomy

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18172/cif.4959

Keywords:

Paul Auster, postmodern fiction, American transcendentalism, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau

Abstract

Paul Auster is one of the most widely studied postmodern authors and his novels have been extensively used as paradigmatic examples of the fiction of this movement. In the light of the recent theoretical debate about the passing of postmodernism, it seems fundamental to explore the way in which Auster conceives the nature of this paradigm, the problems it arises and their possible solutions. The aim of this article is to analyse two recurring types of characters from the Austerian universe that represent two great sources of influence on the novelist: Ludwig Wittgenstein’s philosophy and the ideas from American transcendentalism.

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Author Biography

Jesús Bolaño Quintero, Universidad de Cádiz

Jesús Bolaño Quintero is a full-time lecturer at the University of Cadiz, where he read his PhD on Paul Auster and Dave Eggers. His research interests are centred on the role of transcendentalism in post-postmodern American literature and cinema. His latest article, entitled “Post-postmodern Cinema at the Turn of the Millennium: Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia,” was published in the 2020 edition of the journal Revista de Estudios Norteamericanos.

References

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Published

2021-06-30

How to Cite

Bolaño Quintero, J. (2021). Paul Auster’s postmodern characters: a relativistic/referential dichotomy. Cuadernos De Investigación Filológica, 49, 25–42. https://doi.org/10.18172/cif.4959

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Vol. 49 (2021)

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Articles

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