Course Description
As a bestselling author, essayist, and screenwriter, Paul Auster is one of the central figures of contemporary American literature. This seminar will deal with his works by focusing on three texts: The memoir The Invention of Solitude, as well as the novels Moon Palace and Oracle Night. We will primarily analyze aesthetic and structural features but also integrate theoretical concepts such as metafiction and metanarrative. In order to reveal and discuss recurring themes and motifs, we will further read selected passages from various other (non-)fictional texts by both Auster and some of the authors he repeatedly refers to. In doing so, we will be able to identify intertextuality and cross-references between the many novels. We might also watch one of Auster's movies.
Course Readings
Please purchase the following texts by Paul Auster:
The Invention of Solitude. Faber & Faber, London. ISBN: 0571168620
Moon Palace. Faber & Faber, London. ISBN: 0571142206
Oracle Night. Faber & Faber, London. ISBN: 0571216994
Copies of all other course texts will be made available in due time.
Participants are asked to read The Invention of Solitude for the second session (October 25th).
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