Women of War in Paul Auster’s Man in the Dark

Abstract

Auster’s Man in the Dark includes numerous war stories that altogether contribute to its overall message about the different shape of the world if there were no wars. Most of these war stories are about the miscellaneous effective roles of women during wartime and its aftermath; their contributions to the progress of wars; their victimization as wives and captives; their sufferings as widows and laborers; and their drastic change of identity in accepting new social roles traditionally unachievable. These images of women of war make Man in the Dark a novel about women, although it literally seems not to offer any points about them. This paper is thus to argue that Auster seems to be presenting himself as a pro-feminist in this novel, which is basically about war and what causes war, in highlighting women’s roles during wartime and how their contributions have been unfairly silenced. Keywords: Auster, Man in the Dark, war, women.