Resumen de Landscapes of contemporary literature: the post‐human city in Paul Auster and Don Delillo
This essay explores the theme of isolation and urban alienation in Paul Auster’s novel In the Country of Last Things (1987) and in Don DeLillo’s short-story The Angel Esmeralda (1994), referring as well to DeLillo’s Underworld (1997), which contains the entire text of The Angel, divided between chapter eight and the epilogue, with minor differences. Inside the post-human landscape of a not-that-fictional urban scene, an individual as well as collective memory arises from violence, war and despair. Auster and DeLillo scatter unexpected images and revelations around each corner of their geography of horror. DeLillo’s Underworld in New York or Auster’s imaginary country are peopled by characters and groups who practise their own art (Ismael Muñoz’s graffiti), who speak or write in their own language (Samuel Farr’s never-ending book), who worship their own miracles (the angel Esmeralda itself), building a secret legacy. Isolated inside these underworlds, people create their own rituals, beliefs and myths: a whole collective memory inside the post-human (inhuman) landscape.
