Absurdland

ON THIS PAGE

City of glass, intimate

City of glass, intimate

I hesitated to classify this book in the "Absurdland" category because the author clearly wants to talk about himself. He even stages himself in the company of his wife and son. He doubles himself several times, alternately as "the author," the character of Paul Auster, and probably a writer, his hero, and his figurehead. He gives us the keys to his approach (the doubling of the author) by drawing parallels with Don Quixote, Cervantes, and a story of the origin of the work. I could therefore also have classified it in the intimist category.

But the absurd trumps the intimate. This is not pejorative. Many absurd works deserve their success, from Ionesco's The Bald Soprano to Beckett's Waiting for Godot. And the novel is as well constucted as it is well written, in a style of great fluidity and clarity.

Reference : read in the Faber and Faber paperback edition of The New York Trilogy, 2004

ON THIS PAGE

City of glass, intimate