The Hierarchical Structure of Identities in Paul Auster City of Glass: Psychoanalysis Reading

The Hierarchical Structure of Identities in Paul Auster City of Glass: Psychoanalysis Reading

Paul Auster’s City of Glass deals with many aspects of the concept of identity. It proclaims a set of wondrous mazes of identity, peopled with mysterious observers, authorial surrogates, mirrors facing mirrors, and persons missing to one degree or another. Identity, gender and mythology are essential components to the fabric of human society as we know it. Our society is made up of stories and narratives, those that are told to us and those that we craft for ourselves. The way in which we investigate those narratives can often lead us to greater insights into our individual and collective psyches, bringing us closer to answers regarding the essential nature of mankind and our mythology. The mythology of identity, the process by which we determine and craft our own individual importance to the community at large, is increasingly important to this investigation. Often, this code of identity is negotiated or mitigated by one’s gender, and the social prescriptions and limitations on what people of certain genders can do.