(Luận án tiến sĩ Ngữ văn bằng tiếng anh) PHẢN TRINH THÁM TRONG BỘ BA NEW YORK CỦA PAUL AUSTER

(Luận án tiến sĩ Ngữ văn) PHẢN TRINH THÁM TRONG BỘ BA NEW YORK CỦA PAUL AUSTER(Luận án tiến sĩ Ngữ văn) PHẢN TRINH THÁM TRONG BỘ BA NEW YORK CỦA PAUL AUSTER(Luận án tiến sĩ Ngữ văn) PHẢN TRINH THÁM TRONG BỘ BA NEW YORK CỦA PAUL AUSTER(Luận án tiến sĩ Ngữ văn) PHẢN TRINH THÁM TRONG BỘ BA NEW YORK CỦA PAUL AUSTER

HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

DANG THI BICH HONG

ANTI-DETECTIVE

IN PAUL AUSTER’S THE NEW YORK TRILOGY

Speciality: Literary Theory Code: 62.22.01.20

THE SUMMARY OF PHD THESIS IN PHILOLOGY

Hanoi - 2016

Hanoi National University of Education

Supervisor: Prof.Dr LE HUY BAC

Reviewer 1: Assoc.Prof.Dr Nguyen Duc Hanh

Thai Nguyen University

Reviewer 2: Assoc.Prof.Dr Hoang Minh Luong

Academy of Journalism & Communication

Reviewer 3: Assoc.Prof.Dr Le Nguyen Can

Hanoi National University of Education

The thesis will be presented to the Council

at Hanoi National University of Education

at……… , 2016

The thesis can be found at:

- National Library of Vietnam

- Hanoi National University of Education’s Library

INTRODUTION

1 Rationale

i In Barry Lewis’s opinion, the detective genre is one of the candidates as a real partner of the postmodernity “The laws” of detective fiction may be used as the material for creating the anti -detective works Both anti-detective fiction and postmodern literature are not sufficient grounds to justify the things in a causal relationship

ii Paul Auster is one of the typical contemporary writers in European literature and Americian literature During his writing career, Paul Auster has written across many genres However, in the field of fiction, he seemed more successful Paul Auster's works have been translated into over 30 different languages; thus, he was honored in the world with many prestigious awards, including Prince of Asturias Awards Two years after

being presented to the readers, The New York Trilogy won France Culture

Award in the field of foreign literature

iii Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy is considered as one of the

most popular works of postmodern detective fiction After the works’ publication, this trilogy has attracted the attention of many readers as well as critics

iv In Vietnam, Paul Auster's works are getting more and more popular with the readers However, the researches of Paul Auster are still sketchy and there is not any one about him as a postmodern detective author Therefore,

"Anti-Detective in Paul Auster’s The New York Trilogy" has been our choice

v Carrying out this research, we aimed at establishing the theoretic basis to analyze the originality of narrative in Paul Auster’s anti-detective novels, and then confirming a trend of literary creation during the postmodern period Besides, we hope that the research will help to bring Paul Auster's works as well as the trend of creating anti-detective novels closer to Vietnamese literature

2 Subjects and scope of the study

The thesis studied the aspects, expressions of anti-detective in The

New York Trilogy by Paul Auster

A survey was conducted on The New York Trilogy (Penguin Books, 2006) and a translation of The New York Trilogy by Trinh Lu (Women's

Publishing House, 2007) was another source of reference In addition, the research also looked into other works when necessary

3 Objectives and tasks of the study

Performing this thesis, we confirm that anti-detective fiction is the serial, development of literary detective genre Questioning "Anti-Detective

in The New York Trilogy", we aim at analyzing and clarifying Paul Auster's

originality in the creating of his anti-detective novels By comparing with

the later novels, the thesis also confirms the role of The New York Trilogy

in shaping the creative style of Paul Auster

To achieve this objective, three basic tasks are done

Firstly, the thesis systematized the development of the detective literature genre Due to the fact that most of anti- detective novels have not been translated into Vietnamese, we tried to generalize the appearance of the detective genre, emphasize the difference between detective fictions and anti-detective ones through the typical authors and works

Secondly, the thesis confirmed that the way to build a detective in

The New York Trilogy is a clear demonstration of anti-detective Paul

Auster's detectives in turn break the illusion about an invincible hero in readers' thoughts Detectives' searching process shifts from the crime to their own identity in a world full of chance and uncertainty This theme will be repeated again and again in Paul Auster's novels later

Thirdly, we also showed the art of building the anti-detective plot in

The New York Trilogy as a strategy to negate the immutable principles in a

detective plot Metafiction and intertextuality are effective methods which help Paul Auster make the dramatic plots unclear and put many stories into

his novel over a detective story These stories also formed the author's style in his following compositions

4 Research Methodology

Typology, narrative, comparative and cultural-historical studies are the main research methods used in the thesis

5 New contributions of the thesis

The thesis introduced, systematized the studies of detective literary genre in the transition from detective to anti-detective fiction In particular, before this thesis, anti-detective literary was almost unheard of translation

or research in Vietnam Our showing of achievements of detective literary can become a reference

On the basis of theory, the thesis researched a phenomenon of typical and multi-values contemporary literature: anti-detective novels by Paul Auster We made a new approach to the anti-detective characteristics in

The New York Trilogy from the basic aspects of narrative method

combined with postmodern fictional styles in order to show the particular characteristics in anti-detective novels by Paul Auster

By combining theoretical generalization and practical research, the thesis also indicated the shift of anti-detective literature gerne from popular literature into scholarly literature and the possibility of development of it in the postmodern context

6 Structure of thesis

Apart from introduction, conclusion, references, the thesis is divided into four chapters:

Chapter 1: Overview of Research Issues

Chapter 2 The anti-detective fiction in the procedure of the genre Chapter 3 The multifaceted detective in The New York Trilogy

Chapter 4 Anti-detective plot in The New York Trilogy

Chapter 1

OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH ISSUES

1.1 The studies of anti-detective fiction

The term "anti-detective" was first proposed in 1972 by William Spanos Since then, the study of anti-detective fictions has attracted a good deal of scholars Here, we based our research of detective literature on the two sources of Vietnamese and English materials with two major contents: the opinion of the anti-detective fiction and the basic characteristics of this literature typology

1.1.1 Materials in Vietnamese

An investigation into the anti-detective fiction in discourse of Vietnamese literary criticism review showed us its significance Many researches on classic detective fiction of the world- renowned scholars have been translated into Vietnamese In addition, a number of Vietnamese authors have made their deep discussions about the literary detective However, there are almost not any researches on anti-detective literature Le Huy Bac is the only person that mentioned a branch of the detective fiction

genre in the postmodern context with term “pseudo detective”

1.1.2 Materials in English

It can be seen from the studies in English that new viewpoints on this literature gerne has always been supplemented following the transformations of innovative practice We paid closer attention to the researches by William Spanos, Malcah Effron, Hans Bertens, Larry McCaffery Obviously, the Western literary criticism on detective fiction are still continuous, even they opposed each other on the movement of creative activities Beside the studies of the detective literature, many works directed their attention to the changes of the genre associated with the change of historical context and social context However, there is no work to show the full process of this literary genre

1.2 The studies of Paul Auster’s novels

Like the general overview of the detective fiction genre, we

overviewed the situation of the research on Paul Auster from two sources

including Vietnamese and English documents

1.2.1 Materials in Vietnamese

Vietnamese readers are gradually closer to Paul Auster’s works However, up to this moment, the studies of Paul Auster in Vietnam, in general, have not matched with his talents and contributions Based on the overview of the researches on Paul Auster in Vietnam, we paid our attention

to the evaluations by Le Huy Bac and Nguyen Thi Thanh Hieu in their article and thesis

1.2.2 Materials in English

In the world liturature, Paul Auster has confirmed his position from the 1980s and the studies of his works have also formed a fairly rich system Paul Auster's works have become the subject of monograph books, thesis, dissertations, essays, scientific articles Accessing to research materials on Paul Auster, our method is not based on themes but on the documentary groups since each of them sets up a different aspect of reading Paul Auster’s works

Accordingly, we devided the collected materials into 2 groups: monographs and published articles, thesis, dissertations We also gave our full attention to the three books by Bernd Herzogenzath, Aliki Varvogli , Brendan Martin and some researches on Paul Auster by Dragana, Stephen E.Alford…

1.3 The studies of The New York Trilogy

The interpretations of The New York Trilogy came from many

different angles, but generally they agreed at the metaphysical and postmodern nature under the guide of the detective fiction of the trilogy

1.3.1 Materials in Vietnamese

Overview of the studies on The New York Trilogy in Vietnam, the

introduction of Trinh Lu and scientific article by Le Huy Bac were focused Their reviews somewhat mentioned the anti-detective nature of the fiction trilogy

1.3.2 Materials in English

From English material sources, we approached to the novel in two

ranges: the study of the uniqueness of The New York Trilogy in general,

and research on its anti-detective nature in particular We also gave close

attention to the researches on The New York Trilogy of Anne M Holzapfel,

John Zilcosky, William Lavender, Alison Russell, Stephen E.Alford, Mark Brown, Norma Rowen, Madeleine Soprapure, Jeffrey Nealon, Paul Jahshan, Dan Homes Matthias Kugler, Toni Rudat

1.4 The arising issues

From the general overview of the anti-detective fiction genre including

Paul Auster’s novel and The New York Trilogy, it can be seen that:

There is a quite remarkable difference between the researches on the anti-detective fiction in Vietnam and those around the world There are not any scientific works retracing the entire process of the detective genre

The researches of Paul Auster in Vietnam are still limited and not proportional to those abroad and the writer’s own stature as well

This thesis approached Paul Auster's works in our own way: emphasising on the art mechanism of the postmodern fiction used by the writer to creat his anti-detective novels

Chapter 2

THE ANTI-DETECTIVE FICTION

IN THE PROCEDURE OF THE GENRE

Detective elements appeared very early in the Western culture and literature, beginning by the story of Cain and Albert in the Bibles, then the legend of Oedipus in Greek tragedy and the story of three apples narrated by

Scheherazade in One Thousand and One Nights However, until 1841, with

Edgar Poe’s works, the detective fiction really became a literary genre Since then, the literary detective has evolved through many forms

2.1 The forms of the detective fiction

The detective fiction is a collection of literary works concerning a

case or an investigation Stories are organized by linear narrative sequence,

in which detectives, criminals, as well as all related characters are in the same orientation to reveal the mysteries

2.1.1 The Classic Detective Fiction

Classic detective fiction was officially formed in April 1841 with the

publication of The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Poe Although

created in America, examples of this form mainly came from Great Britain The most flourishing period of the classic detective fiction was from the second half of the nineteenth century to 1945, even, the time between the two world wars was known as "the golden age of the detective story" Following Poe’s standards, the classic detective fiction was put into its top position by the writers such as: Van Dine, Elery Queen (USA), Emile Graboriau, Gaston Leroux (France), Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Cecil Day Lewis (UK)

In the context of interculture between France and Vietnam in the early years of the twentieth century, some Vietnamese writers as Pham Cao Cung and The Lu immitated the way of writing the detective novels from Western writers The success of the August Revolution fundamentally changed the country’s social and historic context and led to the disruption of the detective fiction in Vietnam In the 1980s, the classical form of this genre reappeared with the investigation novels by Phung Thien Tan, Tran Tu Van, Vo Duy Linh, Tran Thanh Ha, Di Li, etc

2.1.2 The Hard- Boiled Detective Fiction

The emergence of the hard– boiled detective fiction with a number of

representatives such as Chandler, Hammett and James Chase is the result

of a direct reaction to some characteristics of the classic detective fiction

A change in both of the form and content of the detective fiction corresponded to a new urban American culture During the postwar time in

the West, the hard–boiled detective fiction appeared popularly in France

and other European countries Although the number of the hard–boiled detective novels published in Europe was not as much as that in the US,

there were many prominent names such as Leo Malet, Auguste Le Breton, Jose Giovanni, etc

The last decades of the twentieth century, a great deal of works reflecting the reality of crime and the fight against crime appeared in Vietnam These crime novels in Vietnam are close to the hard–boiled detective ones in the West However, unlike the hard–boiled detective novels showing a denial of the role of the rotten Western society, the Vietnamese crime novels by Xuan Duc, Nguyen Quang Thieu, Nguyen Nhu Phong… acknowledged the struggle of the police and society as well against unjust forces

2.1.3 The Political Detective Fiction

The political detective fiction originated in England in the early twentieth century Closely associated with the major political events of the world, this form mainly reflected the real life The works by Ian Fleming, John Le Carre, Graham Greene (UK), Xemionov, Bogomolov (Russia), Charles McCarry, Tom Clancy (USA) attracted a lot of Western readers Today, with the appearance of terrorism, the detective writers like Forsythe, Tom Clancy diverted to exploiting detective activities in this fierce battle

In Vietnam, "intelligence – spy novel" is a popularly used term, equivalent to the term of the political detective novel in the West This literature form appeared in the 1960s of the twentieth century It revealed the silent struggle of intelligence soldiers and spies as well as the entire nation in the fight against imperialism After the Independence Day, the intelligence – spy novels flourished in Vietnam with the works by Dang Thanh, Nguyen Truong Thien Ly, Huu Mai, etc

2.1.4 The Psychological Detective Fiction

Modern detective fiction bases on the psychological factors for tracing the root of human behaviors Detective novels, therefore, stress the role of doctors, psychologists and scientists, etc The works can be considered as the art of research on crime psychology The current

renowned writers in detective fiction such as Georges Simenon (France), Patricia Cornwell (USA), Rut Rendell (UK), Ingrid Noll (Germany), Alecxandra Marinina (Russia), Lei Me (China), etc… are also well-experienced in psychological exploitation

The investigation novels in Vietnam are the closest works to the classic detective fiction but still full of psychological analysis factors Besides, in the investigation novels, the writers focus on the detailed analysis of the offenders' behaviors and their motivation instead of sticking the discovering process The detective novels by Bui Anh Tan, Nguyen Dinh Tu are full of psychological factors

2.2 Anti-detective fiction: new development of genre

2.2.1 The term of “anti-detective”

The writing style of anti-detective appeared in the early years of the

twentieth century in The Trial by Kafka and continued to grow until the middle of the century with Portrait of a Stranger by Nathalie Sarraute,

The Erasers by Robbe-Grillet, Trilogy by Beckett, Victim of Duty by

Ionesco Some postmodern writers applied and immitated the form and the rules of the detective novels to create anti-detective ones

The term "anti-detective" was first proposed in 1972 in William

Spanos’s The Detective and the Boundary: Some Notes on the Postmodern

Literary Imagination Central to the detective is its

anti-Aristotelianism – its refusal to fulfill causally oriented expectations, to create fictions (and in extreme cases, sentences) with beginnings, middles, and ends’ What it attacks is the western belief in the susceptibility of nature to rational explanation

Tani argued that, anti-detective fiction was not the continuation of the detective fiction It broke the limit of the detective fiction

It can be said that, the concept of anti-detective fiction is not really unified among critics Currently, items from "anti-detective" has not been defined in the glossaries of literary terms

In our opinion, anti-detective fiction, a form within the detective

fiction, was born in the process of development of this genre in the second half of the twentieth century Anti-detective fiction often follow the forms and rules of detective fiction in order to parody them The core of anti- detective fiction is the denial of creating detective character with his reasoning and action possibilities and the break of the plot of investigations with dramatic structure Thereby, the stories

in anti-detective fiction not only describe a journey to discover the mysteries as detective ones but also express writer's perspective on issues of life and art

2.2.2 Some typical anti-detective writers

While in the detective fiction, it is easy for the readers to find an author whose name is almost related to a real detective, it is not the same

in the anti-detective fiction However, the writers such as Samuel Beckett, Louis Borges, Umberto Eco, Paul Auster, etc have created the world's most famous anti-detective works Each writer expresses a particular cultural imprint in his work

Samuel Beckett (1906 - 1989) was the Irish writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969 With the style of creating the detective

- writer character, Beckett’ Trilogy experienced a process of searching for

an identity as well as expressed the concerns about the writing activities

The structure of fiction and the main theme in Beckett’s Trilogy are close

to The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster

Jorge Louis Borges (1899 - 1986) is a famous writer, poet and translator of Argentina He is considered as the father of magical realism

in Latin America Borges's works are connected together by common themes such as dreams, labyrinths, unconsciousness and myths Under

the form of a detective novel, Death and the Compass of Borges

considered the world as a labyrinth

Umberto Eco (1932-2016) was an Italian writer presenting in the list

of the 20 greatest contemporary thinkers in the world, permanent candidate

for the Nobel Prize for Literature by the Swedish Academy His first novel

- The Name of the Rose - borrowed the "detective tools" to arouse a lot of

philosophical problems of human

2.3 From detective fiction to anti-detective fiction: the change in narration

2.3.1 The change in character

In the detective fiction, the detective is identified by means of his superiority intellectual, his analytical skills and his respectable courteous… The appearance of detective’s friends, the members of the official police and the collection of false suspect also aims to stress on the competence of the detective The situation in which the detective faces a crime is the symbol of a disruption of the normal order of society The final ‘trap-scene’ is only alluded to briefly as the reader may very well imagine its outcome Although the criminal’s actions may be interesting and his motives complex, they must primarily be evil and their deeds therefore always have to be kept subordinated to the detective Thus, the story’s primary emphasis is placed on those who investigate the

crime The detective to get actively involved in the case and give up his

detached life for a limited time until order and harmony have been restored In the hard-boild detective fiction, the detectives uses the power

of fists, guns and becomes a new type of anti- heroes in the society degraded in all respects They deny the role of human reason and believe

in the absolute power of mysteries

The anti-detective fiction inherited from the hard-boild detective the characteristics of denying the role of human reason In postmodern detective works, the detective may even be not a real detective but is a writer, a journalist, a monk, an archaeologist, a map-maker His investigation is nothing more than a signifier code Readers are not interested in whether the detective will succeed or fail, but in his journey

to find out the different signified