ABSTRACT
This chapter presents flânerie as a formative element of The New Yorker’s purpose of expressing a new metropolitan identity during the magazine’s early years. Contributors writing for The New Yorker during the 1920s and 1930s employ flânerie in an attempt to redefine urban exploration in the context of Manhattan’s post-World War I transformation. Close readings of relevant pieces reveal how authors adapt and subvert established modes and genres of flâneur-writing, effectively situating the practice of flânerie between nostalgia and innovation.
