January / Thriller Reading: The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster

[Alexei]

Another idea to accompany the book is to watch "Smoke", which was based in Auster's script - another hymn to New York... A brilliant movie indeed.

The only book of Auster I wouldn't recommend is "Moon Palace".

Great idea, Lupe. I loved the movie. It seems this reading is going to turn into some kind of big experiment. I can't wait to see how all this will end

I actually enjoyed "Moon Palace", but I've heard lots of bad comments on this one. I know it's rather unrealistic (that's the argument I hear the most), but I don't know why it is supposed to be, after all this is fiction. I can see most of the elements that make me like Auster's books. Maybe the most important difference is that the events aren't so closely related to the narrator as usually is.

I've read the trilogy and I will start rereading it tomorrow.

Nick, this is a good idea. I've been thinking of visiting these places while reading the book for the first time. I wish I could do it too They seem very important for the story, or at least I have that impression in the time, so it would be great if you can share the photos you've taken.

[bouquin]

I have just finished reading the first story. Why do you think the title is City of Glass?

[Paige19]

Only just started it, but I'm past the limp penis and the turd. I'd been wondering what narrative use Auster would make of the turd and, in truth, it is the perfect activity to convey that annoying feeling of being hurried by a ringing telephone. I do wish Quinn had washed his hands after pulling up his pants, however.

[Virgil]

i bought the book today at lunch tme. I will alter my current reading to join in!!! I hope people don't mind. I'll start tonight.

[NickAdams]

I started Ghost today and will go back to City of Glass when I take the photos this Saturday. These are the notes I wrote when I finished City of Glass and what I will be looking into on Sat:

***SPOILERS***

Daniel Quinn/ William Wilson/ Max Work
Peter Stillman the elder/ Henry Dark
Peter Stillman the younger
Virginia Stillman
Mrs. Saavedra
Paul Auster
Siri Auster
Daniel Auster

Narrator & Cid Hamete Benengeli

Misc:
Girl reading book
Cook at diner
Hotel clerk

-Guilt (Auster & Quinn)
-The narrator, who has stated that he is including the facts, never confirms if what Auster told Quinn was true.
-Two red notebooks and a red yo-yo.
-Map out Quinn's route.
-Who fed Quinn in Stillman's empty room?
-Benengeli quartet & Auster quartet.

I have just finished reading the first story. Why do you think the title is City of Glass?

I thought it might refer to fragments or something with the potential to break (i.e. Humpty Dumpty).

i bought the book today at lunch tme. I will alter my current reading to join in!!! I hope people don't mind. I'll start tonight.

Did you get the trilogy or just City of Glass?

the Peter Stillman character 'my name is Peter Stillman. That is not my real name.'.

I was also very impressed with the Stillman monologue ...

I found it to be quite unusual at first, but looking back it makes perfect sense. Peter Stillman the younger is the broken thing that no longer serves its practical function that Peter Stillman the elder spoke of and therefore the name Peter Stillman is obsolete. He is and he isn't Peter Stillman.

Great idea, Lupe
Nick, this is a good idea. I've been thinking of visiting these places while reading the book for the first time. I wish I could do it too They seem very important for the story, or at least I have that impression in the time, so it would be great if you can share the photos you've taken.

I'm only taking photos of the path Quinn and Stillman walked together, because the path Quinn walked alone is faaaaaaaaaaaar too long.
I plan on using GoogleEarth to map out Quinn's private wandering and hopefully I will discover letters, or maybe even a word, similar to what Quinn found while mapping out Stillman's route.

[TheFifthElement]

I have just finished reading the first story. Why do you think the title is City of Glass?

You know, I've been thinking about this.

I think the title works on three levels; firstly there is the physical - the book is set in New York which is a 'city of glass', tall glass skyscrapers, and it is certainly a book rooted in New York. Secondly I think the book is a reflection, Auster is holding up a mirror (a glass?) on himself and this is evident in the character Quinn, who shares much of Auster's biography: he is a writer, he writes mystery novels under a pseudonym, he lives in New York, he used to translate poetry, he used to be ambitious. Quinn is mistaken for Auster, albeit Paul Auster the detective as opposed to the writer, and later in the book Quinn meets Auster. Thirdly, and I think this is the underlying theme of the book, it is about identity. Auster, particularly in the first chapter, concentrates quite heavily on the question of identity or the 'self'. Proposing that our 'self' is a 'city of glass' we construct around ourselves, fragile and illusory. Auster explores this in the character of Quinn who is, effectively, nobody, as he says here:

As for Quinn, there is little that need detain us. Who he is, where he came from, and what he did are of no great importance.

and

On his best walks he was able to believe he was nowhere.

and

Quinn was no longer that part of him that could write books, and although in many ways Quinn continued to exist, he no longer existed for anyone but himself.

In a sense Quinn has become a fractured personality. He is Daniel Quinn, the nobody. He is William Wilson the detective story writer. He is Max Work the fictional detective in his book. He is Paul Auster the detective. He elucidates this in these passages:

in reference to Quinn's relationship with William Wilson:

William Wilson, after all, was an invention, and even though he had been born within himself, he now lead an independent life. Quinn treated him with deference, at times even admiration, but he never went so far as to believe that he and William Wilson were the same man.

and in reference to Quinn's relationship with Max Work:

Over the years, Work had become very close to Quinn. Whereas William Wilson remained an abstract figure for him, Work had increasingly come to life.

And he refers to Quinn as the 'dummy', Wilson as the 'ventriloquist' and Works as the 'animated voice that gave purpose to the enterprise'.

And again, I think there is a clue in this passage where Quinn ruminates on the meaning of the term 'private eye':

Not only was it the letter 'i', standing for 'investigator', it was the 'I' in upper case, the tiny life-bud buried in the body of the breathing self. At the same time, it was also the physical eye of the writer, the eye of the man who looks out from himself into the world and demands that the world reveals itself to him.

And I think you find similar themes in the character of Peter Stillman ('that is not my name') though I've not got to that part yet on my third read of this book!

I wondered if there was some meaning in the things Quinn reads and listens to? So far (I'm at the end of chapter 1) he has been reading Marco Polo, and The Sporting News and listened to Haydn's opera The Man on the Moon. Also, I'd be interested in your views on this sentence:

The question is the story itself, and whether or not it means something is not for the story to tell.

Any thoughts?

[bouquin]

Only just started it, but I'm past the limp penis and the turd. I'd been wondering what narrative use Auster would make of the turd and, in truth, it is the perfect activity to convey that annoying feeling of being hurried by a ringing telephone. I do wish Quinn had washed his hands after pulling up his pants, however.

I read that part with bated breath too (no pun intended), to find out next if Quinn was going to wash his hands or not! I understand that there are links and similarities with the 3 stories; I suppose that the toilet scene in City of Glass would correspond to Walt Whitman's chamber pot in Ghosts.

In chapter 4 of City of Glass there is an extensive description of situations similar to that experienced by Peter Stillman junior. I was quite surprised that the author did not mention Genie the feral child, a relatively more recent case and closer to home.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_(feral_child) )

[Virgil]

I got the triology Nick.

Now has anyone mentioned that William Wilson was the central character of the only novel Edgar Allen Poe ever wrote? I have no idea what the significance is, and I have not read that work by Poe, but given this is a detective novel (and Poe started the whole cncept of detective fiction) and given that Poe's William Wilson is a story using a doppelganger.

"William Wilson" clearly explores the theme of the double. This second self haunts the protagonist and leads him to insanity and also represents his own insanity.[2] This division of the self is reinforced by the narrator's admission that "William Wilson" is actually a pseudonym. The name itself is an interesting choice: "son" of "will." In other words, William Wilson has willed himself into being along with the double which shares that name.[3]

Poe wrote the story very carefully and with subtlety. Sentences are balanced, with very few adjectives, and there is little concrete imagery beyond the description of Wilson's school. Pacing is purposely set as leisurely and measured using a formal style and longer sentences. Rather than creating a poetic effect or mood, as Poe recommends in "The Philosophy of Composition," Poe is creating a tale based on rationality and logic.[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William...n_(short_story)

I have only read a chapter into Auster's novel, but there has to be a link to Poe here. The coincidences are too much.

[NickAdams]

I finished Ghost, but have no comments at the moment.

You know, I've been thinking about this.

I think the title works on three levels; firstly there is the physical - the book is set in New York which is a 'city of glass', tall glass skyscrapers, and it is certainly a book rooted in New York. Secondly I think the book is a reflection, Auster is holding up a mirror (a glass?) on himself and this is evident in the character Quinn, who shares much of Auster's biography: he is a writer, he writes mystery novels under a pseudonym, he lives in New York, he used to translate poetry, he used to be ambitious. Quinn is mistaken for Auster, albeit Paul Auster the detective as opposed to the writer, and later in the book Quinn meets Auster. Thirdly, and I think this is the underlying theme of the book, it is about identity. Auster, particularly in the first chapter, concentrates quite heavily on the question of identity or the 'self'. Proposing that our 'self' is a 'city of glass' we construct around ourselves, fragile and illusory. Auster explores this in the character of Quinn who is, effectively, nobody, as he says here:



and


and


In a sense Quinn has become a fractured personality. He is Daniel Quinn, the nobody. He is William Wilson the detective story writer. He is Max Work the fictional detective in his book. He is Paul Auster the detective. He elucidates this in these passages:

in reference to Quinn's relationship with William Wilson:


and in reference to Quinn's relationship with Max Work:


And he refers to Quinn as the 'dummy', Wilson as the 'ventriloquist' and Works as the 'animated voice that gave purpose to the enterprise'.

And again, I think there is a clue in this passage where Quinn ruminates on the meaning of the term 'private eye':


And I think you find similar themes in the character of Peter Stillman ('that is not my name') though I've not got to that part yet on my third read of this book!

I wondered if there was some meaning in the things Quinn reads and listens to? So far (I'm at the end of chapter 1) he has been reading Marco Polo, and The Sporting News and listened to Haydn's opera The Man on the Moon. Also, I'd be interested in your views on this sentence:



Any thoughts?

Very nice. I still don't understand why Quinn decided to live in the alley across from Stillman's building, rather than go to their apartment to speak to Virginia; I know he thought it was the universe trying to prevent him from dropping the case, but ... why?

I got the triology Nick.

Now has anyone mentioned that William Wilson was the central character of the only novel Edgar Allen Poe ever wrote? I have no idea what the significance is, and I have not read that work by Poe, but given this is a detective novel (and Poe started the whole cncept of detective fiction) and given that Poe's William Wilson is a story using a doppelganger.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William...n_(short_story)

I have only read a chapter into Auster's novel, but there has to be a link to Poe here. The coincidences are too much.

There's mention of both Pym and Nantucket. I just finished Ghost and will read The Locked Room, so I will definitely read William Wilson. Thanks for the info.

[Tallon]

I finished City of Glass. I sort of thought i knew what was going on until he meets Auster and starts talking about Don Quixote, but from then on i was pretty much miffed The story was very interesting though and warrants investigation and repeated reads. I also thought it would be a good idea to map out Quinn's walks, there must be a reason why Auster mentions every road he goes down in meticulous detail.

[TheFifthElement]

I finished City of Glass. I sort of thought i knew what was going on until he meets Auster and starts talking about Don Quixote, but from then on i was pretty much miffed The story was very interesting though and warrants investigation and repeated reads. I also thought it would be a good idea to map out Quinn's walks, there must be a reason why Auster mentions every road he goes down in meticulous detail.

I haven't read Don Quixote all the way through, but The New York Trilogy made me intrigued, I felt I was missing something. I will read Don Quixote this year. Is there some link then? I wondered as I think the link in the final book The Locked Room is with Hawthorne, I think specifically Fanshaw, and as I haven't read Hawthorne either I felt I was missing something there too.

Note initials: Don Quixote / Daniel Quinn.

I don't think there's anything random in the names he's chosen.

Did anyone else notice things cropping up in threes in City of Glass?

[Paige19]

No, Fifth, I don't think there's anything random going on. Quite the opposite. I started this book knowing nothing about Auster, and am now realizing what a lot there is to know. His writing is heavily influenced by Lacanian psychoanalytic theory (Jacques Lacan), and while I know nothing about that at all, I'm sure it is the key to many questions about the work.

Check out his MySpace page, linked below, and scroll all the way down past the YouTube links to influences (at very bottom below list of works). Virgil, you'll see Poe listed, so your musings about that connection were no doubt correct.

I'm starting to think that any discussion of Auster we will have will only scratch the surface!

In the case of the last book (Map of Love) I would say there was less there than met the eye; here there is clearly a lot more.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...ndID=172494827

[Paige19]

PS: I haven't even finished this, but just ordered two more of Auster's books. Thanks for nominating him, whoever it was. I feel a reading project coming on...

[Paige19]

PPS: make of this what you will:

In short, Lacan's theory declares that we enter the world through words. We observe the world through our senses but the world we sense is structured (mediated) in our mind through language. Thus our subconscious is also structured as a language. This leaves us with a sense of anomaly. We can only perceive the world through language, but we have the feeling of a lack. The lack is the sense of a being outside of language. The world can only be constructed through language but it always leaves something uncovered, something that can not be told and be thought of, it can only be sensed. This can be seen as one of the central themes of Paul Auster's writing.

I'll have to think about this.

[Alexei]

WOW, you have great ideas This discussion is getting better and better.

TheFifthElement I like your ideas on Quinn/Willson/Work trio, but I have a bit different theory. I agree the story is greatly related with the problem of self identification, but I think this is going even beyond the aforementioned trio. I think all the characters are actually various interpretations on Quinn, in some way they all are Quinn and Quinn is all of them. In different moments in the story he becomes or may be it is better to say he is strongly associated with everyone of them and this is a constant process. Actually, he is never simply Daniel Quinn. In the beginning he is also William Willson and Max Work and later he becomes also Paul Auster. We will see that the other Auster is another version of Quinn, since he is what the main character would have been if his wife and child weren't dead. Then we have the Petter Stilmans. This similarity comes up in the end of the story, when in the dark room Quinn becomes both Peter Stillman (there he treflects mainly on the things he heard from him, he actually starts thinking ih Stillman's manner) and Petter Stillman junior (the conditions in the dark room are the main similarity here. Still, as you said there is some similarity between them in the phrase 'that is not my name'. In the case of Quinn it is easy to interpret it, but when it comes to PSJ it's different; I think he still thinks in the manner and with the words that he was used to when he was in the dark room, so I suppose he has his name, given by himself in the language he had in the dark.) All these characters are some personalisation of certain stages of Quinn's personality changes.

There is something else which I find interesting and important - the theory on Don Quixote. I think it is something like a suggestion how this book it is supposed or at least could be read. When you think about it actually Paul Auster (I mean the author here not anyone of the Paul Austers in the story) is also trying to pass the book as something that isn't fiction. Well, not exactly at the manner Cervantes does, but still there is something like it. In this manner of thought the initials the characters share should be strongly related. I haven't thought it through, so I can't say what exactly this scheme will mean if we use it on "City of Glass", but I think there is some link between them. Any ideas?

In chapter 4 of City of Glass there is an extensive description of situations similar to that experienced by Peter Stillman junior. I was quite surprised that the author did not mention Genie the feral child, a relatively more recent case and closer to home.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_(feral_child) )

Bouquin, I think that the issue in this case is slightly different. Although this child was treated in the same way, the reason for this isn't experiment of any kind. In the book on the other hand this horrible thing is an experiment on language. So, Auster didn't simply need examples of children grown up in similar conditions, but examples of similar experiments.

Paige19, thanks for all the additional info. I haven't seen it all, but I will try to do so Well, I don't promise it will be soon though, I have too much work to do lately. By the way from what I read in you short summery of Lacan's theory, I've read an interpretation of it in one of Iris Murdoch's books - "Under the Net". Are yo familiar with it? Maybe it will be interesting to make some comparison between the two, based on this theory.



p.s. Sorry for not having any quotes, but I don't have the English text, I read it in translation.