Memory and Hypnagogia: A Study on Paul Auster’s Baumgartner

Abstract

This article investigates memory and hypnagogia in Paul Auster’s novella Baumgartner, analyzing how the main protagonist’s memories are filtered through the lens of hypnagogia states- the brief interval between wakefulness and sleep. Employing Memory theory and Psychoanalytic insights into subconscious states, the paper examines how Auster’s portrayal of Baumgartner’s experiences emphasizes memory as fluid, fragmented, and deeply influenced by the subconscious. Baumgartner’s hypnagogic episodes reveal buried memories, illustrating Auster’s perspective on altered consciousness as a potent gateway to understanding self and trauma. This study illuminates Auster’s portrayal of memory as multi-dimensional and proposes that hypnagogia deepens our grasp of memory as multi-dimensional and that hypnagogia deepens our grasp of memory’s impact on identity.