Man in the Dark: A Novel
by Paul Auster
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Book Summary Information
Author: Paul AusterEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-08-19
ISBN: 0805088393
Number of pages: 192
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Book Reviews of Man in the Dark: A Novel
Book Review: More meta-fictional mediocrity from Auster
Summary: 3 Stars
This novella ultimately speaks to leftist American fantasies of what might have been following the effective coup de gras of the 2000 election, and of a subsequent fantasy usurpation of the hegemony of the Bush administration (Auster was one of a coterie of writers who remarked in 2004 That if Bush got re-elected he would leave America. He did not.)
From a narrative viewpoint, August Brill re-imagines an ersatz post-2000 America in which none of the "Bush-crimes" that we know occur, and tells the story of Owen Brick, (Barack Obama???) a reluctant hero figure who goes through the exact same trajectory of countless other Auster protagonists - memory loss, identity crisis, sex with beautiful stranger, physical violence and an ignominious and ambiguous death. This plot had some promise but is jettisoned 2/3rds of the way through the book for no apparent reason other than Brill (Auster) can't be arsed finishing it. The rest of the book features Brill lying in bed waffling for hours about how his dead wife, his decapitated granddaughters boyfriend and the remorse he feels for the whole mess. The original Brick narrative is not even given a mention after.
The writing is sparse, which is fine if you're Raymond Carver but the novella features some truly cringing scenes, (notably the 73 year Brill lying in bed at 4 in the morning with his granddaughter telling her about the anal sex he had with her grandmother.) which from a narrative viewpoint are as irrelevant as they are turgid.
Paul Auster hasn't written a good novel since Oracle Night, and has not written an important novel since Moon Palace. Like DeLillo, Auster pointedly fails to address the fallout of the defining moment of his time. The waning powers of these behemoths of American literature is sometimes uncomfortable to witness.
As a person who was always both stimulated and entertained by Auster's novels I feel disappointed. It is as if he has forgotten how to tell stories, or rather he cant be bothered finishing them. If you want to original read literature that really confronts 9/11 read Safran Foer or Lydia Davis. For all the fetishization of the primacy of the Author in Man in the Dark, Auster does not deliver. The failure of his characters to tell stories is sadly matched by his own.
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