The Elements of Post-Modern Fiction in Paul Auster's Work

Abstract

The thesis's topic revolves around postmodern elements in the work of Paul Auster, especially in his most known book: The New York Trilogy. Therefore, this paper focuses on definition of postmodernism as well as its manifestation in literature and in the trilogy. A brief summary of the development of a postmodern novel as we know it today is not left behind and it is analyzed in the second chapter since The New York Trilogy often refers to canonical works either in the form of a pastiche or in the form of an allusion. In the rather more practical part of the thesis, the main emphasis is put on identity. Hence, it is analyzed from the sociological point of view based on the division by a prominent contemporary sociologist Zygmunt Bauman and from the view Auster deals with the issue of identity in his work. For instance, he creates doubles or even triples, he often includes a character possessing his own name - Paul Auster, characters also take up a made up or existing identities and lose them at the same time, identities merge or are being mistaken.