From Absurd Past To Permanent Redemption—A Utopian Reading Of The Brooklyn Follies

Paul Auster is an outstanding post-modern novelist in contemporary America. The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster is a paean about the glorious yet mysterious life of ordinary people. In the novel, Nathan, the narrator of the story, starting with his return to Brooklyn, describes the ordinary life of several nonentities around him. After experiencing their absurd past, the main characters all come to Brooklyn to start a new life with their inner pursuit of utopian construction. At the end of the novel, in order to achieve permanent redemption, they change Brooklyn into a place where people can find a sense of interpersonal understanding, a sense of belonging, family affection, love and friendship.There are five chapters in the thesis. Chapter One gives a brief introduction to Paul Auster and The Brooklyn Follies, summarizes the literature review, outlines the development and characteristics of utopian literature and indicates the significance of the thesis. Chapter Two analyzes the origin of the "Beautiful Perfect Mother" and its utopian reflection. Chapter Three explores the imaginative construction of the "Hotel Existence" and its utopian connotation. Chapter Four discusses the "spot marked with X". In this work, X represents the unknown in the future while it is also a kind of development of "ex". Therefore, the "spot marked with X" can be regarded as the harbour for their exhausted souls during the process from absurd past to permanent redemption. Finally, they find the utopian location of the "spot marked with X" in Brooklyn. Chapter Five comes to the conclusion, which includes the research value of the study, the limitation of the study and suggestions for further study.