Our book group choice for May 2005 is City of Glass by Paul Auster. Nominated for an Edgar award for best mystery of the year, City of Glass inaugurates an intriguing New York Trilogy of novels that The Washington Post Book World has classified as “post-existentialist private eye.”
City of Glass is a postmodern detective novel by Paul Auster, the first book in his New York Trilogy. The novel follows Daniel Quinn, a writer of detective fiction who is called upon to investigate the disappearance of Peter Stillman, a blind man who was once the subject of a psychological study. As Quinn delves deeper into the case, he begins to lose his grip on reality, and the lines between fiction and reality become increasingly blurred.
The novel opens with Quinn receiving a phone call from a man who identifies himself as Peter Stillman. Stillman tells Quinn that he is being followed by a group of men who are trying to kill him, and he asks Quinn to help him find a safe place to hide. Quinn agrees to help, and he begins to investigate Stillman’s disappearance.
Quinn’s investigation leads him to Stillman’s apartment, where he finds a number of clues that suggest that Stillman may have been involved in some kind of experiment. Quinn also learns that Stillman’s father, Peter Stillman Sr., was a brilliant but deranged linguist who conducted a series of experiments on his son when he was a child. These experiments involved isolating Stillman from the outside world and forcing him to learn a new language every day.
As Quinn learns more about Stillman’s past, he begins to question his own sanity. He starts to see Stillman everywhere he goes, and he begins to have strange dreams about him. Quinn also begins to lose track of time, and he finds himself living in a world that is increasingly fragmented and confusing.
The novel culminates in a confrontation between Quinn and Stillman Sr., who is revealed to be the one who has been following Stillman. Stillman Sr. tells Quinn that he is trying to protect his son from the outside world, and he offers Quinn the chance to join him in his isolation. Quinn refuses, and he leaves Stillman Sr. to his madness.
Dress Your City of Glass is a complex and challenging novel that explores the nature of identity, reality, and fiction. The novel is full of allusions to other works of literature, and it plays with the conventions of the detective genre. The novel is also highly self-referential, and it often blurs the lines between the author, the narrator, and the protagonist.
Note: LBG read the graphic novel version of City of Glass.
Discussion Questions
- How does Auster use names and identity in the book?
- What did you make of the side narratives
- Why did Auster present unreliable passages of time?
- What did you think of the portrayal of women?
- What is the significance of the title, City of Glass?
- How does the novel explore the themes of identity, reality, and illusion?
- What is the relationship between Quinn and Stillman Sr.?
- What role does the city of New York play in the novel?
- Why does Quinn decide to impersonate Paul Auster?
- What does the novel say about the nature of storytelling?
- How does the novel use doubles and multiples to explore the themes of identity and reality?
- What is the significance of the ending of the novel?
- How does the novel relate to other works of existentialist literature?
- What is your overall interpretation of the novel?
- What is the role of language in the novel?
- How does the novel explore the relationship between fiction and reality?
- What does the novel say about the nature of identity?
- What is the significance of the novel’s structure?
- How does the novel use the detective genre to explore its themes?