CITY AS A SOMEWHERE AND A NOWHERE: PAUL AUSTER–S THE NEW YORK TRILOGY

Abstract

The paper is concerned with Paul Auster–s tripartite novel The New York Trilogy (1987), analysing the role of the city in its characters– intentions, actions, and achievements. As each of the three constituent novels – City of Glass, Ghosts, and The Locked Room – focuses on a detective quest in/throughout a highly urban environment (mostly but not exclusively New York City), the aim is to point out that the role of the urban space in them is strikingly ambivalent: it functions as a remedial source of orientation, but also as a defeating labyrinth of streets, buildings, and flats; thoughts and emotions; options, decisions, and solutions. After closely presenting these two aspects in each novel, the paper will attempt to reach a conclusion on which of the two city roles is dominant, that is, whether the city as a general notion in the trilogy guides the characters somewhere or nowhere.