ABSTRACT
This chapter explores an interdisciplinary method that reads literary works as a way of thinking about the city. The point of departure is the pervasive disconnect between the academic fields of literary studies and urban studies when it comes to thinking about the city. However socio-politically engaged literary works themselves may be, the general approach in literary studies often remains concentrated on literary categories: on individual texts, on authors or oeuvres, or on literary-historical periods. Urban studies and geography, on the other hand, are very well equipped to study questions of the real and material city. Yet while immaterial features are frequently acknowledged as being vitally important, the social sciences generally lack the analytical tools for the city as a “symbolic” environment that shapes the lives of its inhabitants. Hence, this chapter sets up an interdisciplinary bridge, with a cultural analysis methodology of concept-driven close readings to explore the points where the humanities and social sciences can take each other seriously, as substantial partners in a shared discourse on the city. This makes it possible to read a literary reflection of the city as simultaneously a reflection on the city, as a way of thinking about the city.
