NAVIGATING NOSTALGIA AND EXILE IN PAUL AUSTER’S IN THE COUNTRY OF LAST THINGS
Main Article Content
Abstract
Anna Blume, the protagonist of Paul Auster’s In the Country of Last Things finds herself in exile, although she has not physically left her country. Nonetheless, she has been thrust into an unknown, harsh, unwelcoming environment that exacerbates feelings of loss, loneliness, and despair. The concept of exile in the context of post-apocalyptic literature is questioned in the paper, and Anna is established as a representative of this type of exile - an exile from stability, moral values, and previously established reality. Anna’s journey is analyzed from a theoretical perspective of nostalgia which is typically interpreted as longing for one's homeland in a spatial sense. In this context, however, it is interpreted as longing for the carefree times of the past and mourning of the lost future. Anna’s nostalgia is not regressive but rather progressive. It motivates her and gives her hope that she will rediscover the life she once had. Although nostalgia is often referred to as a disease of the modern age, the paper investigates whether it can serve as a remedy as well.
Downloads
Metrics
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
References
Auster, P. (1992). The Art of Hunger: Essays, Prefaces, Interviews. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press.
Auster, P. (2005). In the Country of Last Things. London: Faber and Faber.
Auster, P. (2005a). The Invention of Solitude. London: Faber.
Baudrillard, J. (1988). America. New York: Verso.
Boym, S. (2001). The Future of Nostalgia. New York: Basic Books.
Brown, M. (2007). Paul Auster, Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Chase, M.–Shaw, C. (1989). Dimensions of Nostalgia. In: Shaw, C.–Chase, M. (Eds.) (1989). The imagined past: history and nostalgia. Manchester: Manchester University Press. 1–17.
Chrostowska, S. D. (2010). Consumed by Nostalgia? SubStance, 39:2(122). 52–70.
Davis, F. (1979), Yearning for Yesterday. London: The Free Press.
Dow, W. (2004). Paul Auster’s The Invention of Solitude Glimmers into a Reach to Authenticity. In: Bloom, H. (Ed.) (2004). Paul Auster. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers. 51–62.
Gass, W. H. (1990). Exile. Salmagundi, 88:89, 89–108. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40548467
Grinberg, L.–Grinberg, R. (2004). Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Migration. In: Bell, D. (Ed.) (2004). Psychoanalysis and Culture: A Kleinian Perspective. New York: Karnac. 154–169.
Hirsch, M.–Spitzer, L. (2002). “We Would Not Have Come Without You”: Generations of Nostalgia. American Imago, 59:3, 253–276. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/26304671
McCaffery, L.–Gregory, S. (1989). An Interview with Paul Auster. In: Hutchisson, J. M. (Ed.) (2013). Conversations with Paul Auster. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. 13–39.
Morris, M. (2005). A Conversation with Paul Auster. In: Hutchisson, J. M. (Ed.) (2013). Conversations with Paul Auster. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. 163–178.
Retzinger, J. P. (2008). Speculative visions and imaginary meals. Cultural studies, 22: 3-4, 369–390. doi: 10.1080/09502380802012500
Routledge, C. (2016). Nostalgia: A Psychological Resource. New York: Routledge.
Said, E. (2000). Reflections on Exile. In: Said, E. (Ed.) (2000). Reflection on Exile and Other Essays. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 173–186.
Sayers, N. (2020). The Promise of Nostalgia: Reminiscence, Longing and Hope in Contemporary American Culture. New York: Routledge.
Turner, Bryan S. (1987). A Note on Nostalgia. Theory, Culture & Society, 4, 147–56.