“It was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night, and the voice on the other end asking for someone he was not.”

The first line of Chapter 1 introduces the motif of telephone calls, which are crucial to the plot development throughout the narrative. Additionally, it is the first example of pastiche, as it mimics the tone of many pulp detective novels and establishes the initial mystery element of Quinn’s story.

“What interested him about the stories he wrote was not their relation to the world but their relation to other stories.”

Quinn reflects on his love for the stories he reads and writes, particularly the way different stories interact with each other. His reflection underscores the intertextuality of the construction of narrative and identity and contributes to the postmodern literary techniques and the theme of Identity as Constructed and Contingent in the novella. Just as stories impact each other, they also impact the way he crafts his own identity.

“[I]t did not occur to him that he was going to show up for his appointment. Even that locution, his appointment, seemed odd to him. It wasn’t his appointment, it was Paul Auster’s. And who that person was he had no idea. Nevertheless, as time wore on he found himself doing a good imitation of a man preparing to go out.”

This passage is one example of the way Quinn experiences the fragmentary nature of his identity. Even before the events of the story have begun to impact him, he already views the various pieces of his identity as entirely separate entities, allowing him to observe “Paul Auster’s” actions from outside himself.