La reescritura del mito de Don Quijote en "La ciudad de cristal" (1985), de Paul Auster

Abstract

This study highlights how Paul Auster's “City of Glass” (1985) reformulates the romantic myth of don Quixote both implicitly and explicitly. This postmodern anti-detective novel tells the story of Daniel Quinn, a second-rate writer who adapts his town life to the detective paradigm which he has idealized from his readings, in the same way as don Quixote suffered thc opposition between reality and the aspiration to the ideal of the knights errant which he had learnt from his books. Mistaking realily for fiction, visionary idealism and its influence on one's own identity, together with the concept of wandering taken to unexpected extremes are the three main mythemes that connect Cervantes' novel to Auster's, which adapts the main features of the myth of don Quixote to the disquieting atmosphere of the twentieth century.