Reality, fiction and 'In the Country of Last Things.' (analysis of Paul Auster's novel) (Paul Auster/Danilo Kis)

Citation metadata

Author: Sven Birkerts
Date: Spring 1994
From: The Review of Contemporary Fiction(Vol. 14, Issue 1)
Publisher: Review of Contemporary Fiction
Document Type: Article
Length: 1,830 words

Document controls

Main content

Abstract :

Paul Auster's 'In the Country of Last Things' can be read as a modernist account of the soul's dread of existence. The story of Anna Blume's entrapment in a disappearing civilization is an analogy for everybody's plight in the contemporary world. The novel presents Anna at the brink of moral death but concludes with Anna attempting to assert her spirituality. Her experience with the charity work at Woburn House gives her the enthusiasm to regain her morality.

Source Citation

Source Citation   

Gale Document Number: GALE|A15073446