New York City as Metaphor in Selected American Texts

Table of Contents

1 Introduction

2 The American City as Metaphor

3 Pictures of New York City

3.1 Panorama of the City

3.1.1 John Dos Passos’Manhattan Transfer

3.2 Into the City

3.2.1 The Polarized City of Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth and Stephen Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets

3.3 The Metaphysical City

3.3.1 Paul Auster’s City of Glass

4 Conclusion

Research Objectives and Themes

This thesis examines how New York City is represented and interpreted as a metaphor in selected American literary works, analyzing the city's role in shaping protagonists' lives and societal perceptions across different historical and stylistic contexts.

• Evolution of New York City as a literary metaphor
• Naturalistic perspectives on urban environmental determinism
• Postmodern interpretations of urban space and language
• The city as a site of social polarization and isolation
• Literary techniques for capturing the dynamic nature of a metropolis

Excerpt from the Book

Summary of Chapters

1 Introduction: Provides a contextual overview of New York City in literature and defines the scope and methodology of the thesis.

2 The American City as Metaphor: Explores the historical and linguistic evolution of the city as a metaphor within the American literary tradition.

3 Pictures of New York City: A deep dive into the literary representations of New York, split into three specific thematic investigations of selected novels.

3.1 Panorama of the City: Analyzes how John Dos Passos uses impressionistic techniques to depict New York as a mechanised and rapidly changing metropolis.

3.2 Into the City: Compares the works of Stephen Crane and Edith Wharton to illustrate the impact of social polarization and environmental determinism on individuals.

3.3 The Metaphysical City: Discusses Paul Auster's postmodern, metaphysical portrayal of New York as a complex, unreadable, and labyrinthine space.

4 Conclusion: Synthesizes the findings, concluding that while different authors use various metaphors, New York is consistently depicted as a space that disillusions its inhabitants through rapid, uncontrolled change.

Keywords

New York City, American literature, metaphor, urban studies, John Dos Passos, Stephen Crane, Edith Wharton, Paul Auster, naturalism, postmodernism, environment, social polarization, identity, alienation, metropolis

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the primary focus of this thesis?

This thesis explores how New York City functions as a metaphorical construct in selected American novels, analyzing how the city is perceived and interpreted by different authors.

What are the core thematic areas discussed?

The core themes include the impact of urbanization on social structure, environmental determinism, the loss of individual identity in a metropolis, and the shifting linguistic representation of urban space.

What is the central research question?

The research investigates how New York City is depicted and interpreted as a metaphor and how the topography and atmosphere of the city influence the development and fates of the protagonists in the selected texts.

Which scientific methods are applied?

The study utilizes a literary analysis approach, drawing on historical and cultural contexts as well as literary theory, to evaluate how specific authors frame the city's role in their narratives.

What does the main body of the work cover?

The main body consists of specific case studies: John Dos Passos's panoramic view in 'Manhattan Transfer', the social polarization in works by Edith Wharton and Stephen Crane, and Paul Auster's metaphysical interpretation in 'City of Glass'.

Which keywords characterize this work?

Key terms include New York City, literary metaphor, urban alienation, social polarization, modernism, postmodernism, and environmental determinism.

How does Paul Auster's 'City of Glass' differ from the other analyzed works?

Unlike the naturalistic focus of Crane or Wharton, Auster’s work approaches the city through a postmodern, metaphysical lens, where the city is viewed as an unreadable text and identity is fractured by the complexity of urban life.

Why is the concept of 'environment' crucial to the analysis of Stephen Crane's and Edith Wharton's work?

For these authors, the environment acts as a deterministic force that shapes the fates of characters, whether through physical slum conditions or the restrictive social pressures of the upper class, eventually leading to their downfall.