Reflections on the status of the contemporary artist in the struggle against the official discourses: Paul Auster, literature and history

Abstract

We present a reading of The New York Trilogy (1987), Leviathan (1992) and The Brooklyn Follies (2005), by Paul Auster, through the articulation between subjectivities and discourses, notably literature and history. The effort was guided by the observation of the criticism constructed by the writer in relation to the United States' national myth, in the perspective of a movement that resounds other writers' criticism, overall the north-American ones, among which Auster presents himself as a genealogical heir. In digging the discursive and historical viscera on the "origin" of the American nation, the writer presents some reflections on the national identity issue, mainly in relation to the symbols and to the way the characters deal with the official representations.