Virginia Stillman

Outer characterization

Virginia Stillman appears in the novel City of Glass by Paul Auster. Peter Stillman suggests that Virginia is not the character’s real name (Chapter 2, 90%). However, due to Peter’s trauma, it is hard to tell if what he says is true.

The novel offers a detailed description of her physical features:

The woman was thirty, perhaps thirty-five; average height at best; hips a touch wide, or else voluptuous, depending on your point of view; dark hair, dark eyes, and a look in those eyes that was at once self-contained and vaguely seductive. She wore a black dress and very red lipstick. (Chapter 2, 10%)

It should be noted, however, that Virginia is described from Quinn’s point of view and, by his own admission, Quinn does not remember much from his encounter with her. Therefore, we do not know how much of this description is true and how much is influenced by Quinn’s obvious attraction towards her.

Virginia worked as a speech therapist (Chapter 3, 56%), which was how she met her husband. She married ...