Can someone tell me, what is the symbolism of names in this novel, Glass, Wood, Honey? And also what is the point of the story of Kafka and the doll? That puzzles me a lot.

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9 years ago
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Alexandra Daw Great question. I wish I had the answer. I'm 3/4 of the way through the book and it's my first Auster so I feel ill-equipped to reply. At first I was going to say that the names represented the characters - Nathan is so see through but now I wonder if it's because he acts all hardy but is really fragile. Tom is wood because he seems wooden. And so on. Kafka and the Doll - hmmm... well in the telling of the story as I remember... the storyteller was surprised that Kafka would go out of his way to comfort a stranger... a little girl he didn't know. But isn't that what all storytellers do to some extent - comfort strangers as we pass through this strange existence called life. I think we might need a bottle of wine or two to get to the answer though ;)

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