Term Paper - City of Glass

I must say that out of the seven books we read in class, one of my favorites was Paul Auster’s City of Glass. This text was very interesting to me because it moved from the normal structure of fictional stories. That is, throughout the text, Auster dabbles with reality and fiction. As a reader, I had an uneasy time trying to figure what exactly the Author Paul Auster was trying to get across to me. However, this is precisely what kept me interested in the story.
Auster’s Story “City of Glass” is a very appealing one. It is very different from any story I have ever read. This is because it contains quite a number of twists and turns that are totally unexpected. The novel starts off with a mysterious phone call. That alone I found intriguing me and I wanted to know what was to come. As I read the story, I was introduced to multiple characters, including Peter Stillman, Quinn, Wilson, Stillman Sr., Max Work, Auster, etc., some of whom were one person playing different roles. This clearly represents Metafiction, indicating that nothing is really what it seems.
In addition to that, Quinn, the main character of the story, has a very strong inclination to fit the role of a detective when he embodies the various characters. He starts off by pretending to be a detective, “And who do you want to speak to? Always the same man. Auster. The one who calls himself Paul Auster.’ ‘…Speaking he said. This is Auster Speaking.’”(Auster 10 – 11). As time goes on, Quinn eventually becomes Auster, the detective and starts to live his life as the detective. He then tries to solve the mystery of Stillman Sr. and why he is in town.
Another interesting part of the story is that Paul Auster, who is the author of the book, writes about a Paul Auster in the book who is a detective. It becomes extremely fascinating when the main character of the story, Quinn, in addition to the many roles he plays, also pretends to be Auster, the detective. This also shows metafiction, that is, a detective story about a detective story.
When engaging in his investigative duties, Quinn acts in the manner in which he thinks his detective, Max Work in his novels would behave in certain situations and acts accordingly. For instance when he was at the Stillman house, “he thought about what Max Work might have been thinking had he been there. He decided to light a cigarette” (Auster 14). He transitions easily into the role of a detective. He knows exactly what to ask, how to behave and basically how to present himself.
As the story progressed, Quinn goes out to seek Stillman Sr., however, when he gets to the train station (Grand Central), he encounters a bit of an issue and this is where the plot gets interesting. There are two guys who look exactly alike and resemble Stillman Sr. This bring a bit of confusion to Quinn. “What happened then defied explanation. Directly behind Stillman, heaving into view just inches behind his right shoulder, another man stopped … His face was the exact twin of Stillman’s.” (Auster 55). This brings about the issue of chance and how everything in life happens unexpectedly.
After Quinn loses track of Stillman, Sr., he pretends as though he knows what to do to find him in order to calm Mrs. Stillman’s nerves. Even though he has no clue as to how to find him, playing detective Auster gives him this confidence and assurance that something can be done or so Mrs. Stillman believes.
The story makes you wonder how in life things happen unexpectedly and also the fact that events are hard to predict. A positive facet of the story is how Paul Auster, the author of the book, manages to intrigue the reader and keeps him/her reading till the end.
The New York Trilogy – City of Glass became more and more fascinating as the end drew close. This is because the plot continues to twist and turn which is unlike any classic fictional book. It became difficult to try to make heads or tail about the story.
This story is the epitome of what Postmodernism writing is. This is because, readers are trained to find structure in writing, thus, becomes very challenging to follow the story. Postmodernism writing is basically a deconstruction accepted ideas. That is, straying away from the stereotypical structure of writing. In the story, Auster leaves the reader clueless. He does not explain what happens to some of the characters in the end. For instance, it is very hard to explain what happened to Quinn because it said “Little by little, Quinn was coming to an end. At a certain point, he realized the more he wrote, the sooner time would come when he could no longer write any thing”. (Auster 128).
Also, as mentioned earlier, there is the intriguing facet of how chance plays into everything in the story. I definitely wondered whether Quinn followed the right Stillman Sr. at the train station. What if he followed the other Stillman, then what? It is something that Auster never address and readers try to rationalize that whole incident.
In the end we realize that everything is left to chance and we should not try to rationalize everything because we never know what might happen in the next moment. Everything is indeed left to chance. It is very evident that the story is very untraditional, not what a typical story structure is and therefore, not what most people would go for considering the multitude number of twists and turns and not actually knowing what happens in the end. However, in my view, I believe this is the best form of writing since the author gives the reader creative freedom as how to perceive the story and its characters. You are not forced to like a character just because the author does. They way you may interpret it might be different from another and that’s what make it intriguing.

Although, there was not a specific literary theorist used to elaborate Paul Auster’s City of Glass, I believe John Barth’s short story Lost in the Funhouse can be used to interpret Auster’s City of Glass.
Barth’s Lost in the Funhouse is a classic example of Metafiction because all throughout the story, he goes in and out of reality. That is, he causes the reader to walk with him in the journey of writing the story. Paul Auster does a similar thing with all the different roles that Quinn plays. Sometimes it becomes difficult for the reader to stay straight as to who is playing what. In addition to that, Quinn conditions himself such that in his mind he is Auster and tries to rid himself of all things Quinn.
Barth also constantly engages the reader by making a conscious effort to remind the reader what is real and what is an imaginary tale. For instance, in the story, he continues to explain how stories were written in the nineteenth century in order to emphasize the falsehood of reality, “Nowadays (that is, in 19___, the year of our story) the journey is made by automobile – more comfortably …” (Barth 73). However, he does this while telling the story of Lost in the Funhouse. This takes the reader out of the story which perhaps can become very confusing in trying to decipher what is real and what is an illusion. In City of Glass, the narrator also become a character in the story, that is, the narrator voices his opinions sometimes which becomes a little confusing in regards to the multitude of characters mentioned in the book; including the fact that the author’s name is also Paul Auster.
In addition to that, Barth also suggests multiple endings of the story, identifies with the main character Ambrose and his struggle to find out who he truly is and also draw the reader in by giving him/her the chance to explore whether what was read was an illusion or reality. In City of Glass, Auster (the author) does a clever job of not really explaining what happened to Stillman Sr. or Quinn. This enables the reader to come up with multiple possibilities of an end to the characters and the story as a whole. This is very fascinating. A poem which lends itself similar to Barth’s Lost in the Funhouse and Auster’s City of Glass is The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. In the poem, Frost talks about the fact that having two different ways of doing things is always better and also the fact that we all do not have the same path. He says, “I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” (Frost 19 – 20). For Lost in the Funhouse due to the multiple endings it provides readers, it shows how not have one structured end is good. This is because, it allows the reader to adapt to the text in his or her own way. Similar to that is Auster’s City of Glass; literally speaking you could use the fact that Quinn chose to follow one Stillman Sr. and not the other and compare it to the two roads that Frost talks about in his poem. What would have happened if Quinn followed the other Stillman Sr.? I definitely wondered whether Quinn followed the right Stillman Sr. at the train station. Was that the right choice to make? Well we cannot make judgments of the unknown, but what we do know is that it definitely shaped the course of the story. Figuratively speaking, however, the poem lends itself to chance. We cannot determine what the next step in the story will be since it is full of twists and turns. However, we can make an assumption that it is all left to chance. The unexpected can and does happen. When Quinn decided to follow that Stillman Sr., we did not imagine that he would lose track of him and the mere purpose of his existence would become fruitless. However, it was a choice he made and it was left to chance. Frost does an excellent job of distinguishing between to ideals and the fact that it is ok to go the untraditional route. Paul Auster certainly wrote a detective story however, its structure is clearly different from the norm and the fact that there are not clear cut conclusions gives it a different take on what is out there. Similarly, we battle issues today that are based on reality and fiction. For instance with this year’s presidential candidates, one of them particularly stood out because out of nowhere he became the most popular guy on the ballot. Namely, President-elect Barack Obama. However, the question still remains do we as a society truly know who President-elect Barack Obama really is? Or we know who he is through the media. Senator John McCain allegedly claimed that Barack Obama was a celebrity and that he was only interested in fame. He compared Obama to the likes of Paris Hilton, etc. “Camp McCain likes Barack Obama’s global celebrity so much that they have launched a new ad juxtaposing footage of Obama’s massive Berlin rally last week with images of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. The ad calls him “the biggest celebrity in the world… but is he ready to lead?” (Karl). Well from what we have been exposed to we can we blame the media for this phenomenon? Is what we see really who he is; reality or fiction? Obama, like any other person, has different roles he plays. He plays the role of a senator, a dad, a friend, a husband and an incredible orator. So do these different roles make him fake or does it mean that he is not who he says he is? Unlike Paul Auster’s numerous characters who claim to be people they are not (Quinn as Auster), Obama simply plays himself. The media does have a knack for sensationalizing politicians in the spot light so if that makes who we see in the media a fictional version of the real Obama, then how we can say we know who anyone truly is. We all have roles that we play in our daily lives but that does not mean that we are different individuals when we transition into these roles. It simply means that we adapt to our surroundings. Just like in Paul Auster’s City of Glass, everything in life is based on chance. Everything is unexpected and life is not a structured entity. Everyone has different paths and the leads to different discoveries and as Robert Frost said taking the road less travelled made all the difference.
All in all, I am convinced that not having structure in text lends itself to creativity. The reader or listener can engage in the creative process with the author. This is what Paul Auster did with the untraditional structure of his story. It is through concepts like metafiction that brings about enlightenment. With enlighten bring creativity and variety and who knows, years from now different genres would have evolved. I truly enjoyed Paul Auster’s City of Glass and would recommend it to readers who want to be taken on a journey unlike they have ever experienced before. Life is full of chance why not take a chance on City of Glass.
Work Cited:
Auster, Paul. The New York Trilogy - City of Glass. Sun & Moon Press, 1985.
Barth, John. Lost in the Funhouse. 1968
Frost, Robert. The Road Not Taken. http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15717. Visited 12/03/08Karl. http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=13066. Visited 12/04/08

Secretary by Gaitskill - 11/14/08

I must say that when I first began to read Secretary by Mary Gaitskill, I did not know what to expect. It seemed like a typical story in which a family that is made of four characters, father (who is sort of a bum), mother (nagging wife and parent) and two children, (one (Donna) somewhat successful and the other (Debby) very lazy and who always has to live life being compared to her sister). However, I was pleasantly surprised because I did not see the twist coming in the text.

Mary Gaitskill manages to mix High culture and Pop culture. She accomplishes this by taking a revered place such as a law office and mixes it promiscuity at the workplace. Debby’s relationship with her boss is one that cannot be easily characterized because it is difficult to tell what both parties are feeling.

All in all, one would say that Gaitskill’s style of text is Transgressive Literary. This is due to the fact that she writes about topics such as Sado Masochism in the work place, which she does in the raw form and with such ease. I look forward to developing her sense of writing by reading other books by her such as Veronica.

Neuromancer & Individuality - 11/06/08

Neuromancer is one text that really explores the impact that technology has had and is having on the human race.  It is very interesting to see how we as human beings are being cloned and are gradually becoming zombies with technology improving on a day to day basis. One would think that with this much enlightenment we would be advanced and be open to try new things or at least seek individuality, however, that is sadly not the case.

We are now being controlled by the very things that we thought would set free. In the text of Neuromancer, we find that Case, the main character, has his nervous system damaged with Russian Mycotoxin to damage his nervous system and this makes him unable to jack into Cyberspace. The same can be said for mainstream media, once they go off script, they are blacklisted.

We as consumers of such media do not pay attention to what controlled and little information we are exposed to. We are told what “they” want us to hear and we do not have a clear alternative to defy them. I was exposed to music by a band Sonic Youth, and I found myself surprised at how much different it was to any kind of music that I had heard on the radio. They sounded and looked different, and the type of music they played was mostly instrumentals and had very few lyrics. In addition to that, the duration of their songs were approximately 7 minutes which is definitely longer than the average song that is played mainstream media.

One interesting discovery I made was that if they are different, interesting and exciting ideas out there, why are we being forced to fit into one mould? A question, I believe that should be answered by each of us.

 

William Gibson's Neuromancer - 10/30/08

William Gibson’s Neuromancer is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. It is very different what from the books I have been exposed to and its genre is also pretty new to me. Neuromancer is a classic example of science fiction and an introduction to cyberpunk.

Cyberpunk is a science fiction genre that deals a lot with technology and low life. That is, usually the heroes that are depicted in these stories are not the regular kind that is depicted in stories. They are usually criminals, offenders of some sort, etc. In Neuromancer, Gibson does a good job of depicting this genre.

Case, one of the main characters in the book, uses his intelligence to steal from his bosses. He does all this through technology. He also seems to be tormented by the fact that his life is in danger; Wage, the guy that he stole from is looking to take his life.

The characters in this book have similarities with the characters in the movie “The Matrix”. They both wear dark clothes that are tight fitting and in addition to that, the settings of both stories are quite grim. All in all, Neuromancer is shaping up to be an interesting read.

 

Kindred Part 2 - 10/23/2008

As one continues to read Kindred, he or she becomes enlightened to the fact that when the reason why Dana gets transported back to the twentieth century is because her own death may be imminent. This is very similar to why she gets transported to 1815, to save Rufus, her ancestor from dying an untimely death.

Another interesting aspect of the story is the fact that she has to take up a role of a slave even though in present time she is treated equally. One would think that with the knowledge and education she has acquired in the twentieth century, it would help her survive when she called back in time.

However, she is pretty much helpless.  So the question is, even though women have been enlightened, has this changed the mentality that we are equal to men or do we face a different kind of battle than our predecessors? An interesting aspect to the story is that is helps us to think and examine how far we as a people have come and how knowledge brings power.

 

Octavia Butler's Kindred - 10/17/08

Octavia Butler’s Kindred is a classic example of science fiction and/or fantasy text. It contains quite a number of attributes that pertains to this category. The story includes a hero figure (Dana), time travel (between the eighteenth century and the nineteenth century), spiritual connections between characters (Dana and Rufus) and several other attributes.

Another group that Kindred fits in is the Slave Narrative. This is because throughout the text, the reader is exposed to several themes that are prevalent in slave narratives. These in include Christianity, using ignorance as a tool to prevent slaves from advancing, sexual exploitation of women and several others.

In the text, Master Tom Weylin did not want the slaves to learn how to read or write. This is because he feared that if the slaves became literate they would seek a better life for themselves and this would collapse the whole master-slave relationship. He therefore encouraged ignorance to prevent the slaves from advancing. In addition to that, Margaret had a problem with Dana sleeping in Kevin’s room because she considered her house a Christian one. She did not want to condone such behavior.

As the reader gets engrossed in the text, he/she realizes that Kindred fits into the Feminism theory. Dana is portrayed as hero. She always manages to save Rufus from being killed. She is also not the typical “slave” because she is educated and can stand on her own. This is a classic example of multiculturalism in Feminism.

Challenging Gender Roles - 10/10/08

It is very interesting how each and every one of us seem to fit in a particular role depending on what our gender is. However, when we are exposed to situations and individuals that do not fit into the roles we are used to, a sense of discomfort falls on us.

 A commonality when growing is that girls need to play with dolls and boys with trucks. But there is a bit of discrimination there. This is due to the fact that it is acceptable for girls to play with trucks or wear male clothes; however, the same cannot be said for guys.  If boys play with dolls or wear female clothes it is considered unacceptable in society.

Brokeback Mountain is a film that came along to challenge these notions. Most films do not glorify homosexual relations on the silver screen, but Brokeback Mountain did so. It showed the relationship between Ennis and Jack and how they had to keep their relationship a secret because it would be dangerous to expose it.

Judith Butler encourages such materials to be brought mainstream and Brokeback Mountain does just that. This is because she advocates Queer Theory and seeks to have individuals and society question gender roles. It becomes difficult for individuals to show their identity since it is tied to our passions (sexuality). However, if we move from the way of thinking, we would realize that everybody is different.