Imagined Cities : Urban Experience and the Language of the Novel

In Imagined Cities, Robert Alter traces the arc of literary development triggered by the runaway growth of urban centers from the early nineteenth century through the first two decades of the twentieth. As new technologies and arrangements of public and private space changed the ways people experienced time and space, the urban panorama became less coherent-a metropolis defying traditional representation and definition, a vast jumble of shifting fragments and glimpses-and writers were compelled to create new methods for conveying the experience of the city. In a series of subtle and convincing interpretations of novels by Flaubert, Dickens, Bely, Woolf, Joyce, and Kafka, Alter reveals the ways the city entered the literary imagination. He shows how writers of diverse imaginative temperaments developed innovative techniques to represent shifts in modern consciousness. Writers sought more than a journalistic representation of city living, he argues, and to convey meaningfully the reality of the metropolis, the city had to be re-created or reimagined. His book probes the literary response to changing realities of the period and contributes significantly to our understanding of the history of the Western imagination.-- Provided by Publisher A Literary Investigation Of How The Modern Metropolis--intoxicating, Disturbing, Powerful--changed Perceptions And Irrevocably Altered The Western Imagination. Alter Traces The Arc Of Literary Development Triggered By The Runaway Growth Of Urban Centers From The Early Nineteenth Century Through The First Two Decades Of The Twentieth. As New Technologies And Arrangements Of Public And Private Space Changed The Ways People Experienced Time And Space, The Urban Panorama Became Less Coherent--a Metropolis Defying Traditional Representation And Definition, A Vast Jumble Of Shifting Fragments And Glimpses--and Writers Were Compelled To Create New Methods For Conveying The Experience Of The City. In Interpretations Of Novels By Flaubert, Dickens, Bely, Woolf, Joyce, And Kafka, Alter Reveals The Ways The City Entered The Literary Imagination.--from Publisher Description. Flaubert: The Demise Of The Spectator -- Flaubert: Urban Poetics -- Dickens: The Realism Of Metaphor -- Dickens: Intimations Of Apocalypse -- Bely: Phantasmatic City -- Woolf: Urban Pastoral -- Joyce: Metropolitan Shuffle -- Kafka: Suspicion And The City. Robert Alter. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 161-163) And Index. Contents ......Page 8 Preface ......Page 10 Flaubert: The Demise of the Spectator......Page 18 Flaubert: Unrban Poetics ......Page 40 Dickens: The Realism of Metaphor......Page 60 Dickens: Intimations of Apocalypse......Page 80 Bely: Phantasmatic City......Page 100 Woolf: Urban Pastoral......Page 120 Joyce: Metropolitan Shuttle......Page 138 Kafka: Suspicion and the City......Page 158 Notes......Page 178 Index ......Page 182