Who is your favorite character from an Auster’s novel and why?

 

 

            I read In The Country of Last Things when I was 20 and it made me read other Auster’s novels. It is impossible to remain indifferent to this novel and its heroine Anna Blume. She comes to this country at the age of 19 to look for her brother William. She undergoes great trials. But she never gives up. In a country where everything is disappearing (words, people, factories, etc.), where people do not live but rather survive, she succeeds in remaining alive. In this country where people have difficulties in communicating, she is able to strike up a relationship with someone. She even finds love. In this country where it is impossible to give birth, because it is the country of death, Anna learns that she is pregnant. Even if she loses the baby, it is quite a miracle! She is driving by the will to find her brother. This is what keeps her alive. She has a goal.

            When everything goes wrong, when you think there is no hope anymore, you have to cling to something. For Anna it is the search for her brother. Moreover she never forgets who she is, she never lets herself overcome by the despair around her. She remains human (she helps an old woman, etc.). Through out the novel we follow Anna and we undergo the same trials. It is really hard not to give up and I think that I could not do the same thing. One has to be strong in adversity and not everyone is able to do that. This is why I admire Anna Blume. She represents hope in a world of despair, life in a dead world, love in a world deprived of emotions. She is my heroine!