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/lit/ - Literature

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12540404 No.12540404 [Reply] [Original]

I'm looking for novels in which "the city" has a very prominent role, and can even be said to be a character in its own right.

Obvious examples are Ulysses, Petersburg, Berlin Alexanderplatz or Manhattan Transfer, but I'm trying to find similar novels for every great or lesser city. Does your home town have its own novel?

>> No.12540458

Note Dame de Paris

>> No.12540463

Crime and Punishment

>> No.12540642

>>12540458
Great addition!

>>12540463
I can't remember in which city this is set - is it me (and should I re-read the book), or does the city not play that big a part?

>> No.12540649

La colmena

>> No.12540681

>>12540404
A tale of two cities of Charles Dickens.

>> No.12540702

>>12540681
Also "It" form S.K. if you don't mind that is entirely fictional.

>> No.12540716
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12540716

>>12540681
pic related

I hesitate to read Dickens or Hugo, because I feel like the idea of the city as essential to the novel is something only achieved in modern literature. Am I wrong?

>> No.12540726

New York Trilogy by Paul Auster

>> No.12540744

>>12540463
>>12540642
Not him, but it's in St. Petersburg.
I'd also recommend The Idiot, but it's locations are split between SPb and Pavlovsk. In my edition of The Idiot, there was even a nicely sketched map of SPb with important story locations and general place. Great touch imo

>> No.12540760

Might sound like cheating but i'd recommend Invisible Cities. Also, i've read most of what's recommended in the thread and none really approaches Andrei Bely's Petersburg. So if that's what you're looking for then give up. I've basically decided to write a "Petersburg" for the city i live because there's nothing to compare.

>> No.12540762

Last Exit to Brooklyn
Motherless Brooklyn
The Brooklyn Book of the Dead

>> No.12540764

>>12540716
I understand that you may think that, but I don't see the reason to not read them though.

A tale of two cities was a very nice read, and this is coming from someone who is usually not interested in pre XX literature.

>> No.12540788

>>12540764
Alright, I'll give it a shot!

>>12540760
Invisible Cities is a great recommendation actually, read it a few months ago. There have to be novels for other cities that at least attempt to do what Petersburg does though?

>> No.12540793

2666
Not a real city, but it’s based on Juarez.

>> No.12540814

Nostromo

>> No.12540844

neverwhere

>> No.12540845

>>12540716
> I feel like the idea of the city as essential to the novel is something only achieved in modern literature
Give Les Misérables a try. It's a slog in places but a epic.
I enjoy a story that can evoke the atmosphere of the surroundings.
If you're into science-fiction, and especially if you're English, War of the Worlds has rather a feel of impending doom about it.
If you'd rather something more contemporary Bright Lights, Big City is recommended.

>> No.12541138
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12541138

The city could definitely be considered a character in this novel.

>> No.12541208

>>12541138
Great! Never heard of it, but have been to Lithuania so will definitely read this. Since many capital cities have their "own" novel, maybe it's possible to make a map of Europe where every capital has a defining book. Still missing lots of nations though. Any additions?

Ireland - Ulysses
England - Tale of Two Cities?
France - Notre Dame
Germany - Berlin Alexanderplatz
Portugal - The Book of Disquiet
Spain - The Hive
Lithuania - Vilnius Poker
Russia - Petersburg

>> No.12541477

Mysteries of Paris by Eugene Sue

>> No.12541492

In Midnight’s Children, Mumbai is very much like a character. All the atrention to smell in that book I love.

>> No.12541503

>>12541208
good thread and i'm waiting for more recs too, but honestly do you people think Berlin is so important in Döblin's novel? I mean, it could have been anywhere. There's a few passages, like the one with the slaughterhouse, where the place and atmosphere are essential, but again the slaughterhouse, advertisements, etc., could have been found in any big city at the time, I guess.
Also I pretty much agree that Paul Auster's trilogy can be added (probably among other books where NYC is more than a setting).

>> No.12542855

>>12540404
If you're interested in this and haven't read All That Is Solid Melts Into Air, do so

>> No.12542950

it seems like /lit/ refuses to bring it up anymore out of some misguided shame but
Jerusalem. It is mostly about the history of Northamptonshire

>> No.12543678
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12543678

>> No.12543845

Suttree by McCarthy is knoxville
Where the air is clear by fuentes is mexico city
adam buenosayres by marechal is buenos aires

>> No.12543911

Mr. Sammler's Planet by Saul Bellow (New York)
Hunger by Knut Hamson (Christiana/Oslo)

Not very patrician, but most of Stephen King's books have a very strong sense of place. This is also pop stuff, but Elizabeth Hand has a detective trilogy that brings up the character of the cities they take place in very well: Generation Loss, Available Dark, and Hard Light.