“I am Alone in the Dark, Turning the World Around in my Head” – Space-Time Creation in Paul Auster’s Man in the Dark
Abstract
The primary aim of the article is to examine Paul Auster’s metafictional novel – Man in the Dark – in reference to the represented reality and imaginary spaces which play a crucial role in the development of the action. I will be focusing on the diverse levels of the spatio-temporal dimensions of the novel – the primary story and the embedded one – and their mutual relations and interactions. While discussing Man in the Dark, I shall explore the ways in which particular chronotopes affect individuals immersed in them. I will also prove that the text’s dominant story, recounted by the protagonist, August Brill, transgresses the spatial and temporal borders of the main character’s world, and, consequently, becomes completely separated from what is quotidian, known, and experienceable for him.The created worlds shall be analysed in reference to Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of the chronotope.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/nh.2022.7.73-86
Date of publication: 2022-12-28 14:59:59
Date of submission: 2022-03-14 23:11:46
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