ABSTRACT
Images and Perspectives selections set a framework—afford a comparative perspective—for all the readings that follow in this book by focusing on persistent themes in American urban imagery. Each Steinbeck who came to the city was, in some sense, a different man; and each time he perceived, and therefore used, the city quite differently. The newcomer to any city brings with him conceptions of urban life and perhaps of other cities, if not indeed specific notions about this particular city. In the writings of novelists like Steinbeck, and especially in their works of fiction, the American city rarely appears as mere backdrop, as static stage setting, against which are enacted the sufferings and dreams of men. One classic theme of the urban novel pertains to the diversity of every large city's worlds and populations. The emphasis on heterogeneity enters into novels in much the same way. The city is a mosaic of worlds: it has many classes, ethnic communities, and neighborhoods.
