Paul Auster

Auster’s first novel The Invention of Solitude was significant, in that it not only catalogued his own experiences, but also provided one of the earliest examples of the psychological processes involved in trauma and memory storage. It demonstrates the self’s psychological use of the Ego, in a classical sense, to negotiate between emotional response and reality, in order to create meaning around a set of events. More specifically, the death of Auster’s father operates as a catalyst for the author’s journey of self-discovery, which is richly tied to the psychoanalytical principles of Freud and Lacan, and which ultimately allows him to fully appreciate his experience of loss, by supporting the wish fulfillment related to his relationship with his father, and his need to understand the rejection he perceives suffering as a child. This highlights the difference between the inner child’s ego-centric or narcissistic perception, and the adult’s ability to rationalize, especially as it relates to memory and unfulfilled need. Keywords: Paul Auster, psychoanalysis, trauma, memory, self-myth

The present paper seeks to argue that the opposing roles Paul Auster has devised for his protagonists in Invisible (2010) evolve around metamorphosic changes in their behaviors in terms of Deleuze and Guattari’s rhizome theory. While the protagonist undertakes a Deleuzian Bocoming to be a villain, the antagonist possesses a radical form of a Body without Organ. This study thus defines its main assignment to find the relevant Deleuze-Guattarian flickers within the novel. Deleuze and Guattari launch their notions of Becoming and BwO within their theory of Rhizome. To substantiate this, six principles of the rhizomatic expansion (including connection, heterogeneity, multiplicity, a signifying rupture, cartography, and decalcomania) are examined vis-à-vis Invisible. The story’s main characters would thus exhibit their rhizomatic and nomadic inclinations while the novel’s narration and setting would add to the multiplicitous dimension of the story. Ultimately, through such rhizomatic praxis, this paper identifies radical de-territorialization – or breaking free from social norms – as a major Austrian technique to portray the predicaments of contemporary American lifestyle.