Research Information System
5th INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ANGLO-AMERICAN CULTURE AND LITERATURE, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 25 - 29 March 2026, pp.4-5, (Summary Text)
The feeling of being lost creates a serious shock on the human imagination and sense of
self. Nowadays, the ambiguity of individuals'identities is one of the main problems that come
to the fore as a result of the breakdowns created by the modern world. These breakdowns have
March 25-29, 2026 / Dubai, BAE 45th INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ANGLO-AMERICAN CULTURE AND LITERATURE
also influenced the transformation of literary movements. Described as an extension of
modernity, postmodernism, as a literary movement, exerts its influence by undermining the
legitimacy of grand narratives and reshaping literary texts on the basis of ambiguity and
pluralism.This perspective, which holistically addresses the past, cultural heritage, and
historical process, has paved the way for the widespread use of techniques such as metafiction
and intertextuality in literature; because postmodern narrative reveals that texts are in constant
communication with each other, that meaning is not fixed but multiple, and that the reader
should actively participate in the production process. Thus, postmodern literature can be defined
as a polyphonic production space that forces a rethinking of classical narrative structures.
Following a brief discussion of the modernism-postmodernism distinction, this study will focus
on intertextuality and metafiction, which are the defining techniques of postmodern literature.
The Glass City, the first of Paul Auster's New York Trilogy, is an important text that exemplifies
both postmodern narrative techniques and the postmodern individual's problems of identity
through the narrator Daniel Quinn. The exploration of individual identity through the character
of Quinn, along with the depiction of the postmodern world through the metaphor of New York,
clearly reveals Auster’s literary approach. This study aims to reveal postmodernism, the identity
confusion in the postmodern individual, and Auster's literary approach.