Author, father, president: Paul Auster's figures of invisibility

Galia Benziman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Since the mid-2000s, Paul Auster's fiction has increasingly come to address topical issues. Man in the Dark (2008) is a post-9/11 work, whose plot evolves around the attack on the World Trade Center and George W. Bush's controversial leadership. Yet, in this work, Auster also returns to several key themes that have preoccupied him since The Invention of Solitude (1982). When Man in the Dark's symbolic and veiled return to these themes is examined, the novel's political critique can be more richly understood within the context of the topoi of the father-son relationship and the construction/deconstruction of the self through writing.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)462-479
Number of pages18
JournalCanadian Review of American Studies
Volume43
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2013

Keywords

  • 9/11 in literature
  • Authorship
  • Father figures
  • Man in the dark
  • Patricide in literature
  • Paul Auster
  • The invention of solitude

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