Invisible (novel)

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Invisible is the title of a novel by Paul Auster . It was published in the English original in 2009 under the title Invisible. In 2010 the German edition, translated by Werner Schmitz , was published.

content

The protagonist of the novel is Adam Walker, who in the first part of the novel tells of his studies of literature at Columbia University in New York and his family history, the drowning death of the younger brother, the difficult family constellation afterwards and the very close relationship with sister Gwyn. Walker wants to be a poet and works on the student newspaper at his university.

At a party in 1967 he met the French literature professor Rudolf Born and his girlfriend Margot Jouffroy. When he accepted the invitation to dinner in their apartment, Born suggested that he publish a sophisticated literary magazine that he financed. Walker agrees enthusiastically, but is irritated by the generous offer. When Born travels to France for some time, Walker and Born's friend Margot have an intense sexual relationship. Born renews his offer after his return and spends an evening with Walker. On a walk they are threatened with a gun by a young black man. They should give out their money. Rudolf Born pulls a knife and stabs the attacker. Adam Walker tries to call the ambulance against Born's resistance, but finds neither Born nor the injured person at the scene of the crime. He learns from the newspaper that the attacker was found dead in a nearby park with sixteen knife wounds. Walker concludes from this that Born was the perpetrator. It threatens him. Nevertheless, Walker went to the police after a few days. Too late, Born left the United States.

In the second part, the well-known writer Jim Freeman tells of the fact that his former college colleague Adam Walker wrote to him. Neither of them had any contact since studying. Walker now reports that he only has a relatively short time to live and asks Freeman to visit. He is also writing about a novel project, the first part of which has been completed. He would like to know Freeman's opinion on it. Freeman has the already completed part sent to him and is now reading the first part of Invisible. In Walker's uncertainty as it should continue, Freeman wrote to Walker, he had helped one of his early novels, he of me on it was changed. Walker followed this thought and soon after sent Freeman the second part of his work, entitled Summer . Part 1 was apparently spring .

This is followed by the chapter Summer , Walker's text , in “Invisible” . It is essentially about the incestuous relationship with his sister Gwyn. She continues her previous studies in New York, moves in with her brother, and both, against the background of their close sibling relationship and a test of their sexuality once practiced in their childhood together, decide to have an intense sexual relationship, which only began after Walker's departure to Paris to complete a year of study in France.

In part three, Freeman reports on his visit to Oakland, his visit to Walker. He has died in the meantime. Freeman receives a fragment of the third part of Walker's novel. The headline is autumn . In this text, Walker describes his stay in Paris . Freeman formulates the final chapter of Walker's novel from the fragments left behind: Adam Walker re-establishes contact with Margot Jouffroy in Paris, meets Born by chance and decides to play a nasty trick on him. Walker doesn't want to go unpunished for the murder. He follows an invitation from Born to his fiancé Hélène Juin and her daughter Cécile. After he was able to establish a friendly relationship with Cécile and believes he has won his mother's trust, he tells her about the murder in New York. So he wants to thwart the planned wedding between Rudolf Born and Helène Juin. But he is not believed and Cécile also turns away from Walker. Soon after, police raided Walker's hotel room and found a package of hashish that appeared to have been slipped into him. Walker believes this is Born's revenge. The examining magistrate offers Adam Walker, with reference to the intervention of a high person, to drop the criminal proceedings in favor of a deportation from France. Walker agrees and leaves the country the same day.

In part four, the writer Freeman takes the floor again. Only here does he describe the contact with Walker's sister Gwyn. She explains that part one of the novel is obviously autobiographical and understandable based on her knowledge, but that the incestuous relationship described in the second part never existed. However, she suggests that the novel be published. To do this, however, all names should be changed. Jim Freeman, who is now called differently in the (fictional) reality, researches the people in Walker's novel and finds that the descriptions in the first and third parts have a realistic background. Because he wants to find out more, he looks for the characters involved, but can only find Cécile Juin. She works as a literary scholar. Freeman meets them and receives some additional information. At first Cécile Juin does not want to tell anything about her re-encounter with Rudolf Born, but gives Freeman her diary. Paul Auster's novel closes with the chapter “ Cécile Juin's Diary ”. In this text Cécile Juin describes her trip to Born in the Caribbean, on the island of Quillia. After working as a professor in London, Born moved there and when he found out about Hélène's death, he got in touch with her daughter Cécile, who accepted his invitation. While she is enjoying Born's hospitality on the sultry tropical island, Born spreads out his life story in a meandering manner and suddenly proposes to her. He wants to write a spy novel based on his biography with Cécile and reveals to her, hinted at, his involvement in the events surrounding Adam's departure from Paris and her father's accident. Cécile leaves in a hurry.

Interpretation / form

The subject of Auster's novel is u. a. the tension between fiction and reality in literature. It is not clear whether Born is really the ice-cold murderer he appears to be in Walker's perception, nor is the truth of the incest between the Walker siblings clarified. Who is behind the hash story, was Born a spy and finally who is the author here? A puzzle game with many possibilities of the modern novel, which can also be found in the complex form of the novel, which moves between autobiography, the 'book within a book' and the diary.

source

Paul Auster Invisible , Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg, 2010 ISBN 978-3-498-00081-3

literature