1
‘The history of postmodern American fiction belongs to those authors who, in any idiom and for any
audience, for brief passages or for entire careers, shared a new cultural sensibility as a response to an
altered world’ (Paula Geyh, Fred G. Leebron, and Andrew Levy). Evaluate the usefulness of the
concept of the postmodern as a means of framing contemporary American fiction.
Postmodern American fiction responds to the economic and social changes that occurred in America,
and the globalised world, post-World War Two. This altered world required innovative modes of
representation that could reflect the new cultural sensibility of the authors. Auster and DeLillo, for
example, are part of this postmodern movement of formal innovation. The hallmarks of literary
postmodernism frame The New York Trilogy (1986) and Cosmopolis (2003). Indeed, by evaluating the
concept of the postmodern in relation to both texts, the cultural sensibility of the authors can be
discerned.
Postmodernism is a concept predominantly used to describe the ‘waning or extinction of the
hundred-year-old modern movement.’1 The term signifies the changes in the economic and cultural
conditions of society that led to a growth in consumerism, technological innovations, and advanced
communications. Auster and DeLillo respond to these vast changes in their fiction. Their postmodern
worldview, however, is characterised by scepticism. The New York Trilogy and Cosmopolis are
located in the sprawling metropolis of New York City, the centre of American consumer culture. For
Auster, New York is ‘an inexhaustible space, a labyrinth of endless steps’ 2 populated by an
anonymous and displaced civilisation. This postmodern city is ‘an arena in which greed and material
advancement have come to the fore.’3 In Cosmopolis, commerce and capitalism are similarly
characterised by greed and corruption. The anti-globalisation protest in the text is against ‘the force of
cyber-capital’4 that ‘pretends not to see the horror and death at the end of the schemes it builds’ (C,
p.91). Auster and DeLillo, therefore, explore the nature and repercussions of consumer capitalism and
globalisation. Consequently, both texts can be framed within the concept of postmodern American
fiction, which ‘draws its subject matter from the enormous changes America and the world have
undergone over the past forty years.’5 The New York Trilogy and Cosmopolis demonstrate the key
concerns of literary postmodernism.
Postmodern American writers are preoccupied with the difficulty of discerning meaning in an
altered world. Indeed, uncertainty and paranoia are quintessential features of postmodernism. Auster’s
cultural sensibility, for example, ‘encompasses an overwhelming lack of cognitive certainty.’ 6 In The
New York Trilogy, the form of an anti-detective novel is used to embark on a philosophical quest for
truth and meaning. In ‘City of Glass’, for instance, Quinn is plagued by the postmodern uncertainty of
, 2
whether significance in the world is simply illusory. Quinn believes that Stillman’s movements across
the city are spelling out the letters of the phrase ‘Tower of Babel’. However, Quinn admits that his
interpretation ‘could well have been meaningless’ (CG, p.70) and perhaps he had seen the letters ‘only
because he had wanted to see them’ (CG, p.71). Furthermore, the Stillman mystery becomes ‘simply
a bridge’ (CG, p.130) to Quinn’s greater quest for meaning. Once he crosses this bridge, ‘its meaning
had been lost’ (CG, p.130). Similarly, in ‘Ghosts’, Blue’s surveillance of Black is absolved from
meaning when Blue recognizes ‘that he is also being watched.’ 7 This realisation initiates Blue’s
metaphysical quest for cognitive certainty in his incoherent world.
For Auster’s characters ‘the present is no less dark than the past, and its mystery is equal to
anything the future might hold’ (G, p.136). The New York Trilogy, therefore, can be framed within the
postmodern condition of doubt and uncertainty.
Cosmopolis similarly responds with uncertainty to the changes in New York. For DeLillo,
however, technology has enabled the world to be present in a contemporary city. By responding to
changes in New York, therefore, DeLillo is critically responding to global change. Indeed, DeLillo is
critical of a technologically advanced world. The technology in Cosmopolis is ahead of our time. In his
limousine, Eric Packer ‘could talk most systems into operation’ (C, p.13) and ‘wave a hand at a screen
and make it go blank’ (C, p.13). Technology effectively governs Packer’s life and forces him into the
future. This is evident when Packer’s actions in real life are shown to happen ‘a second or two after’
they happen on-screen (C, p.22). This disjunction implies that technology has taken an unnatural,
almost metaphysical, role in human life. Cosmopolis is similarly critical of global communications and
mass media. By virtue of cyberspace, events that are happening around the world are channelled into
one medium. DeLillo implies that such broadcasting delocalises an event and desensitizes viewers.
For example, Packer watches the murder of the managing director of the IMF live on the money
channel. Packer acknowledges that this clip would be repeated ‘until the sensation drained out of it’
(C, p.34) or ‘everyone in the world had seen it’ (C, p.34). DeLillo calls into question contemporary
assumptions ‘about the reality of a technologically mediated commercial life’8, by exploring its
alienating and dehumanising affects.
Furthermore, postmodernist writers are concerned with ‘how the public life of the nation
intersects with the private life of its citizens.’9 In an indeterminate world, the postmodern subject has
no single ‘self’ but is a fragmented constellation of different selves. In The New York Trilogy, Auster’s
‘The history of postmodern American fiction belongs to those authors who, in any idiom and for any
audience, for brief passages or for entire careers, shared a new cultural sensibility as a response to an
altered world’ (Paula Geyh, Fred G. Leebron, and Andrew Levy). Evaluate the usefulness of the
concept of the postmodern as a means of framing contemporary American fiction.
Postmodern American fiction responds to the economic and social changes that occurred in America,
and the globalised world, post-World War Two. This altered world required innovative modes of
representation that could reflect the new cultural sensibility of the authors. Auster and DeLillo, for
example, are part of this postmodern movement of formal innovation. The hallmarks of literary
postmodernism frame The New York Trilogy (1986) and Cosmopolis (2003). Indeed, by evaluating the
concept of the postmodern in relation to both texts, the cultural sensibility of the authors can be
discerned.
Postmodernism is a concept predominantly used to describe the ‘waning or extinction of the
hundred-year-old modern movement.’1 The term signifies the changes in the economic and cultural
conditions of society that led to a growth in consumerism, technological innovations, and advanced
communications. Auster and DeLillo respond to these vast changes in their fiction. Their postmodern
worldview, however, is characterised by scepticism. The New York Trilogy and Cosmopolis are
located in the sprawling metropolis of New York City, the centre of American consumer culture. For
Auster, New York is ‘an inexhaustible space, a labyrinth of endless steps’ 2 populated by an
anonymous and displaced civilisation. This postmodern city is ‘an arena in which greed and material
advancement have come to the fore.’3 In Cosmopolis, commerce and capitalism are similarly
characterised by greed and corruption. The anti-globalisation protest in the text is against ‘the force of
cyber-capital’4 that ‘pretends not to see the horror and death at the end of the schemes it builds’ (C,
p.91). Auster and DeLillo, therefore, explore the nature and repercussions of consumer capitalism and
globalisation. Consequently, both texts can be framed within the concept of postmodern American
fiction, which ‘draws its subject matter from the enormous changes America and the world have
undergone over the past forty years.’5 The New York Trilogy and Cosmopolis demonstrate the key
concerns of literary postmodernism.
Postmodern American writers are preoccupied with the difficulty of discerning meaning in an
altered world. Indeed, uncertainty and paranoia are quintessential features of postmodernism. Auster’s
cultural sensibility, for example, ‘encompasses an overwhelming lack of cognitive certainty.’ 6 In The
New York Trilogy, the form of an anti-detective novel is used to embark on a philosophical quest for
truth and meaning. In ‘City of Glass’, for instance, Quinn is plagued by the postmodern uncertainty of
, 2
whether significance in the world is simply illusory. Quinn believes that Stillman’s movements across
the city are spelling out the letters of the phrase ‘Tower of Babel’. However, Quinn admits that his
interpretation ‘could well have been meaningless’ (CG, p.70) and perhaps he had seen the letters ‘only
because he had wanted to see them’ (CG, p.71). Furthermore, the Stillman mystery becomes ‘simply
a bridge’ (CG, p.130) to Quinn’s greater quest for meaning. Once he crosses this bridge, ‘its meaning
had been lost’ (CG, p.130). Similarly, in ‘Ghosts’, Blue’s surveillance of Black is absolved from
meaning when Blue recognizes ‘that he is also being watched.’ 7 This realisation initiates Blue’s
metaphysical quest for cognitive certainty in his incoherent world.
For Auster’s characters ‘the present is no less dark than the past, and its mystery is equal to
anything the future might hold’ (G, p.136). The New York Trilogy, therefore, can be framed within the
postmodern condition of doubt and uncertainty.
Cosmopolis similarly responds with uncertainty to the changes in New York. For DeLillo,
however, technology has enabled the world to be present in a contemporary city. By responding to
changes in New York, therefore, DeLillo is critically responding to global change. Indeed, DeLillo is
critical of a technologically advanced world. The technology in Cosmopolis is ahead of our time. In his
limousine, Eric Packer ‘could talk most systems into operation’ (C, p.13) and ‘wave a hand at a screen
and make it go blank’ (C, p.13). Technology effectively governs Packer’s life and forces him into the
future. This is evident when Packer’s actions in real life are shown to happen ‘a second or two after’
they happen on-screen (C, p.22). This disjunction implies that technology has taken an unnatural,
almost metaphysical, role in human life. Cosmopolis is similarly critical of global communications and
mass media. By virtue of cyberspace, events that are happening around the world are channelled into
one medium. DeLillo implies that such broadcasting delocalises an event and desensitizes viewers.
For example, Packer watches the murder of the managing director of the IMF live on the money
channel. Packer acknowledges that this clip would be repeated ‘until the sensation drained out of it’
(C, p.34) or ‘everyone in the world had seen it’ (C, p.34). DeLillo calls into question contemporary
assumptions ‘about the reality of a technologically mediated commercial life’8, by exploring its
alienating and dehumanising affects.
Furthermore, postmodernist writers are concerned with ‘how the public life of the nation
intersects with the private life of its citizens.’9 In an indeterminate world, the postmodern subject has
no single ‘self’ but is a fragmented constellation of different selves. In The New York Trilogy, Auster’s
