A God in Ruins

Teddy’s aunt Izzie writes a series of popular books about a boy named Augustus who is based on Teddy. Teddy eventually learns that he is the basis for Augustus and that his many afternoons spent with Izzie are research for her. The books make Izzie wealthy, but Teddy feels that they do a disservice to his life and that Augustus does not resemble him at all. His remarks that writing about his life would be to make an artifice of his life also apply to Izzie’s writing. She writes about his life in a way that he resents. Ursula teases him at the end of the novel by reading him an Augustus story in bed. She assures him that he is not like Augustus at all. 

The books are a symbol of the attempt that an artist can make to encapsulate someone’s existence and distill them to an essence that entertains an audience. The books and the author will also be more permanent than the person upon whom they are based. Art outlasts the artist; this idea supports the novel’s theme of the passage of time.