An Interpretation Of The Book Of Illusions In The Light Of Schizoanalysis

Paul Auster(1947-)is regarded as one of the most innovative novelists in the United States,and many of his works contain rich philosophical ideas.In 2002,his tenth novel The Book of Illusions was published.This novel is full of philosophical thoughts and is considered to be one of his most mature works.In the novel,the desires and the change of identities of the two main characters are in accordance with the main ideas of Schizoanalysis theory proposed by French postmodernist philosophers Deleuze and Guattari.This thesis will analyze The Book of Illusions from the perspective of the emergence and flow of desires of the main characters based on Schizoanalysis theory.This thesis consists of five chapters.Chapter one introduces Paul Auster the writer and The Book of Illusions.Chapter two makes a comparison between Psychoanalysis theory and Schizoanalysis theory,and discusses the main terms that are related with desire including “desiring machine”,“the body without organs”,“schizophrenic subject”,“deterritorialization”,etc.Chapter three analyze the desire to escape from the real world and the desire for redemption of David Zimmer and Hector Mann respectively from the perspective of the emergence of desires based on the the novel.Chapter four discusses that the main characters finally get rid of the shackles and gradually break away from the social limits driven by their desires from the perspective of the flow of desires.Chapter five is the concluding part.In The Book of Illusions,the main characters David Zimmer and Hector Mann generate desires to aspire to escape from the real world and the desire to seek self-redemption respectively under the influence of various accidental events.Driven by these desires,they break the socially-authorized belief,surpass their own limits,and become the schizophrenic subjects.The body without organs they generate respectively become the surface for the recording of the entire process of the production of desire.Eventually,they realize their deterritorialization under the influence of desiring machines,and gain new forces.The Book of Illusions is rich in connotation and profound in meaning.The desires and the identities of the main characters are in constant flux,which reflect the living conditions of people in today's society to some extent.