Paul Auster's Brooklyn: between fiction and reality

Résumé du document

Brooklyn is best described as a city within the great New York City. It is a place associated with top-notch artists such as Walt Whitman, Hart Crane or quite recently Woody Allen; and one of New York boroughs where one cannot ignore the ongoing process of multiculturalism. There are several reasons as to why I chose Brooklyn as the topic of my research. Besides the classes about New York, I wish to discover another aspect of New York City through literature, and I hit my goal when I thought about Paul Auster.
I find it interesting to study New York through the work of a real New Yorker writer and to consider how the man appropriates his own city, not only through his life but also through his work. I never read Paul Auster's novels before, so I could work without any preconceived ideas which might influence my reading or my perception.
As my topic is a broad-based one, I had to confine my research to one novel to improve the accuracy of my work. I chose The Brooklyn Follies, his latest novel which came out in 2005. In this study, I focused on the borough of Brooklyn, ant I tried to study the many facets of the place and to reproduce them faithfully.
In the process, I discovered that there are two Brooklyns which are superimposed: the real Brooklyn with its restaurants, its business, the everyday life in Brooklyn for the author and his characters; and another Brooklyn, a literary and fictive one. The two Brooklyns end up merging into one another in the novel and hence emerges an original idea of Brooklyn.

Extraits

[...] Brooklyn appears as an open city, shifting and mobile. It is a special world, with its Russians from Brighton Beach, its Haitians from Crown Heights, its Jews from Williamsburg, its Italians from Bensonhurst and Coney Island. His neighborhood Brooklyn, especially Park Slope, takes on a particular meaning for Auster, since it is his neighbourhood. That affective dimension shows throughout his novel and his interviews: have been living in Brooklyn for sixteen years. I love that neighborhood, with all its languages and its cultures. [...]

[...] Paul Auster's Brooklyn: between fiction and reality Contents Introduction I. Real Brooklyn in The Brooklyn Follies, or how Auster draws a map of Brooklyn Characteristics of the borough The Brooklynites History through the story: the gentrification process in Park Slope II. Fictive Brooklyn in the novel Symbolism The place of paradox An imaginary world: escaping the city III. Paul Auster's Brooklyn Brooklyn's history His neighborhood Brooklyn as a literary character Conclusion Brooklyn: a city within great New York City, a place associated with top-notch artists such as Walt Whitman, Hart Crane or quite recently Woody Allen; and one of New York boroughs where one cannot ignore the ongoing process of multiculturalism. [...]

[...] However, Auster highlights the contradictions of the city and he shows how Brooklyn also embodies a place of hope and redemption trough love. Honey, a woman in love with Tom, understands that phenomenon when she says “I've checked everything and come down to Brooklyn to be part of your life” p.213). Brooklyn is full of promise for the one who can see. No wonder Brooklyn eventually turns into a place of liberation: Aurora, Tom's sister and Nathan's niece, finds in a Brooklyn a welcoming refuge when she left her sectarian husband. [...]

[...] Therefore I focused on the borough of Brooklyn, ant I tried to study the many facets of the place and to reproduce them faithfully. And so, there are two Brooklyn which are superimposed: the real Brooklyn with its restaurants, its business the day to day life in Brooklyn for Paul Auster and his characters; and another Brooklyn, a literary and fictive one. The two Brooklyn end up merging into one another in the novel, hence emerges a new original idea of Brooklyn. [...]

[...] 77) or “With her strong Brooklyn accent ( ) I loved that earthy, proletarian voice. It made me on safe ground with p.247). It appears that Brooklyn inhabitants are usually referred in a reassuring meaning, they manage to “stabilize” all the characters who used to have no ties anywhere. Eventually, we can quote three characteristic figures of Brooklyn. First, Harry Dunkel/Brightman, a former crook switch in a bookseller : idea that Harry would actually leave Brooklyn and move to some remote country settlement struck me as pure nonsense. [...]