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Abstract
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Despite Fredric Jameson’s attempt to nominate postmodernism as the cultural logic of the late capitalism, Linda Hutcheon argues that the parodies, paradoxes, and historicizing events of the past in the present time are used in the novels to challenge the history. While we know that Paul Auster creates multiple identities and reflexive selves for a single character to proceed with the line of story, the problem that remained to be addressed is whether he assigns positive or negative identity roles. The researcher in this thesis mainly argues that the embedded identities of the major characters, namely August Brill and Adam Walker, in Auster’s selected novels, Man in the Dark and Invisible, respectively can be better revealed by drawing upon Hutcheon’s (2003) theory of postmodernism using concepts of “self-reflection,” “grand narrative,” and “historiography.” The study of Auster’s novels provides characters with a bridge to embrace a new reflexive self/identity. The aforementioned roles or so-called masks superseding the autonomous identity and the narration’s significant impact on the concept of self are repeatedly introduced throughout the texts. Accordingly, the partial narratives of the protagonists are closely related to the parallel identities that help to fill the gap created in the role structures of the protagonists. Such cross-references to parallel identities are not only evident between but also within the works written by Auster. Securing the freedom of self within a world defined by oppression, upheaval, turmoil, and change is quite evident in the review of self-mythology. The researcher’s concern in this study is to explore instances of identity under a metafiction-oriented reading of Auster’s works and highlight the criteria of self and identity in an attempt to overcome the traditional oppressive limits and present a metafiction-oriented reading within postmodern setting. To this end, the study will situate itself within the framework of self-mytholog
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