(DE)CONSTRUCTING LITERARY SPACE: A POSTSTRUCTURALIST ACCOUNT OF CENTER IN PAUL AUSTER’S CITY OF GLASS
Hassan Rouhvand
Pages: 204-212
Published: 19 Aug 2015
Views: 2,501
Downloads: 599
Abstract: Words mirror and/or obscure? The question has been at the core of recent disputes in academic circles. The present study seeks to address this point by drawing upon two major topics of ‘binary oppositions’ and ‘transcendental signified’ in language and philosophical scholarship. To this end, the role of language in (de)constructing key assumptions of center and centrality, embedded in the function of the topics, is examined in Paul Auster’s City of Glass. The researcher encounters constant reversal of traditionally-endorsed hierarchical structure of center/periphery in the mystery story. Besides, it is shown that literary language does not, necessarily, serve as a transparent medium to meaning and truth of which the detective was purposefully in the quest. Rather, the search results in the fragmentation and postponement of signification.
Keywords: auster, post-structuralism, center, signifier, signified
Cite this article: Hassan Rouhvand. (DE)CONSTRUCTING LITERARY SPACE: A POSTSTRUCTURALIST ACCOUNT OF CENTER IN PAUL AUSTER’S CITY OF GLASS. Journal of International Scientific Publications: Language, Individual & Society 9, 204-212 (2015). https://www.scientific-publications.net/en/article/1000845/
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