Sammendrag
The main themes of Paul Auster s The New York Trilogy and The Book of Illusions are identity and quest for meaning. I have applied theories by Giddens, MacIntyre, Eco, and Kermode, to show the importance of narrative structures, for the formation of identity, as well as the ability to connect fragments or coincidences into meaningful and coherent entities. The characters crises of identity are related to the importance of other people, in addition to their abilities to sustain a biographical narrative. Moreover, the interplay between writer and reader is revealed in the use of self-reflexive techniques in the works. The role of the reader as interpreter becomes part of the novels plots, since it is related to how our ability to perceive meaningful structures depends on our sense of endings. I have also tried to explore the narrative method of the works, using the theories of especially Rimmon-Kenan and Phelan, to show how these themes are treated in a literary manner.