Sheburenkova T. Poetics of National Myth in Paul Auster's novels

The thesis sets out to explore the poetics of myth developed in the novels by the American author Paul Auster and understudied in Ukrainian and foreign literary scholarship. The analysis of Auster's novels (primarily, The New-York Trilogy, Leviathan, Moon Palace, Mr. Vertigo, Oracle Night and The Book of Illusions) has made it possible to identify the mythological component in his works as a comprehensive system of perceiving America and its national identity under globalization and postmodernism. Historical, theoretical, and cultural fundamentals of American national mythology have been specified. The thesis discusses Puritan mythological discourse (pilgrimage, the pastor/good shepherd archetype, the topoi of the City on the Hill and Eden) in Auster's novels. It is demonstrated that his characters are trying to follow mythological concepts by their rereading and reinterpretations to modify the reality. Being aware of the striking contrast between myth and reality, between the first settlers' intents and present-day American community, the characters do not break away from Utopia, but attempt to create a new one. In this manner the writer stresses the connection between the American myth of origins, its historical mission and reality. The pastor-teacher character is singled out as one of the principal Puritan archetypes actualized by Auster. On the basis of Puritan mythological discourse the author reconstructs the national mythic Pilgrim image, as well as the motif of wandering, namely, the plots centering on Puritans' quest for Promised Land in contemporary setting. In contrast to it, the writer emphasizes lack of sense and purpose in his characters' wanderings, their loss of guidelines and purpose established by Puritan myth. Thus he accentuates the most painful problems of our time - loneliness and confusion, individuals' complicated relations with society.