The Question of Identity in The Invention of Solitude The first Auster

The Question of Identity in The Invention of Solitude
The first Auster?s non-fiction The Invention of Solitude is divided into two parts;
Portrait of an Invisible Man and Book of Memory, both delineating the relationship
between father and son and the ways the relationships with other people contribute to
identity formation of an individual. The former was initiated by his father?s death and
3.1. Portrait of an Invisible Man
Ironically, Auster starts the memoir with an absolute end, with death as the
terminal station, a final stop in one?s identity formation. In assembling small things,
memories and details, he tries to re-create the lost identity of his father. He writes to
conserve his father?s memory; he wants to confirm his existence through writing. He is
even compelled to write, because he fears his father would otherwise vanish without any
proof of his existence. But the problem is that his father was always absent, a sort of an
invisible man, while being still alive.