The Literature Book

within the family unit—which is

described as the “cradle of the

world’s misinformation.”

THE NEW YORK TRILOGY

(1985–1986; 1987), PAUL AUSTER

Auster plays with identity, illusion,

and the absurd in his three hugely

successful interlocking novels:

City of Glass, Ghosts, and The

Locked Room. This is film-noirish

crime fiction, with elements of

postmodern experimentalism. The

links between an author and his or

her subject are teasingly explored:

in the first book the protagonist is

a writer of detective stories who is

caught in complications after being

mistaken for a private eye; in the

last, an author who is suffering

from writer’s block obsessively tries

to track down a successful novelist

who has disappeared. In immersing

themselves in writing fiction, letters,

poems, or reports, the characters

become alienated from reality. A

major theme running through the

trilogy is the operation of chance

and coincidence in our lives.

THE SATANIC VERSES

(1988), SALMAN RUSHDIE

In this deeply controversial book,

two Indian survivors of a terrorist

attack on a jet bound for London

become symbols of the angelic

and the wicked, and experience

miraculous transformations. The

novel’s title, The Satanic Verses,

refers to passages in the holy book

of Islam, the Koran, that allow

intercessory prayers to pagan

deities. British-Indian author

Salman Rushdie (see p.302) was

subjected to a fatwa (death order)

by the Supreme Leader of Iran for

allegedly blaspheming against

Muhammad—one of the characters

is partly modeled on the prophet.

PLAYING FOR THRILLS

(1989), WANG SHUO

Wang Shuo (1958–) is a Chinese

writer working in the “hooligan”

style, typified by using Beijing

dialect to show mocking indifference

to establishment values. His much

celebrated Playing for Thrills is a

satirical novel of urban alienation,

centered on a murder. It is narrated

by the chief suspect, Fang Yan, a

man who enjoys card playing,

drinking, and womanizing. Along

with its “tough-guy” protagonist, the

book is populated by criminal and

lowlife characters, and is reminiscent

of hard-boiled detective fiction.

THE ENGLISH PATIENT

(1992), MICHAEL ONDAATJE

In his Booker Prize-winning The

English Patient, Sri-Lankan born

Canadian author Michael Ondaatje

(1943–) shows how the lives of four

characters intersect in an Italian

villa in 1945. A nurse, a thief, and

a Sikh sapper are preoccupied by a

plane-crash victim who lies injured

upstairs. The narrative spirals into

the past to reveal an affair in the

North African desert and other

dangerous secrets. Lies and half-

truths mask identities, and physical

and emotional damage are inflicted

by both war and love.

TEXACO

(1992), PATRICK CHAMOISEAU

This key novel by Martinique

author Chamoiseau (1953–) takes

its name from a real-life shantytown

suburb—itself named after an oil

336 FURTHER READING

Paul Auster

Novelist, essayist, translator,

and poet, Auster primarily

writes about ideas of the self,

identity, and meaning—and

sometimes the author himself

features in his books. Born in

1947 in Newark, New Jersey,

Auster moved to Paris in 1970

to translate contemporary

French literature. Returning

to the US four years later,

he continued his translation

work, wrote poetry, and began

writing a series of existentialist

mystery novels, which were

collected as The New York

Trilogy. Auster has also

written screenplays, two

of which became movies that

he directed himself.

Key works

1982 The Invention of Solitude

1985–87 The New York Trilogy

(see above)

1990 The Music of Chance

2005 The Brooklyn Follies

The desert could not be

claimed or owned—it was

a piece of cloth carried by

winds, never held down by

stones, and given a hundred

shifting names ...

The English Patient

Michael Ondaatje

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