Identity in Language

Who are you? What does it mean to ask such a question? And what about the fact that one can only answer it using words, which are not our own? What would that question mean for an author?

I was totally unprepared for reading Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy. Thinking it was literally a detective story, I was very surprised when I finished the first installment, City of Glass. Quinn is a mystery fiction writer who identifies with his pseudonym, William Wilson, who really wishes to be the protagonist of his fiction stories. One day, Quinn receives a misplaced call for a "Paul Auster." Obviously the name of the actual author, Paul is believed to be a private eye and is being contacted for a job. Quinn does not clarify the mistake and takes on the job--more importantly, he takes on the identity. Thus starts The NY Trilogy, which is similar to what happens when you look into a mirror that is behind a mirror--an infinite reflection of selves, all terribly similar but essentially different.

I really want to avoid giving away the crux of the story, but I will say that the third volume, The Locked Room, adds a dimension to City of Glass and Ghosts that makes the whole situation even crazier. There is so much to say on these works that I find myself hard pressed on deciding what I should write about. I am currently taking a Deconstruction class, which is a way of reading texts that focuses on highlighting the problems of certain metaphysical assumptions. I really started reading The NY Trilogy during a break in that class, and by some strange coincidence of God, this book works great for a deconstructive reading. Language and identity are already problematized throughout the text and questions are raised about how our words fall short in describing what they attempt to. Characters blend into one another, and the question of "who is the author" is also put into doubt.

I would recommend this book to everyone who is interested in theory and existential crises! I would only advise one thing: reading City of Glass by itself might first be a bit unsatisfying--push through and finish all three!

I have now started The Brothers Karamazov! I have never read any Russian classics, but Dostoevsky seems a great place to start. It's a funny book, half the time reading like a dramatic novella charged with family feuds and love triangles, but the other half is deep reflections on the nature and existence of God, immortality, sin, and suffering.