Literature in/of the City – Introductory Comments
Literature in/of the City – Introductory Comments

Author(s): Magdalena Lachman
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: literature;space of the city;literature’s circulation;urban studies;new forms of expression
Summary/Abstract: The article attempts to describe a variety of possible ways in which literature makes itself present within the space of the city. It assumes two basic perspectives to investigate the issue. First of all, the article analyses how the city and its multiple institutions support the literature’s circulation and availability for the readers. The city offers a number of venues for writers to present their works and promote them through precisely targeted events and literary festivals. The city is seen as a stage or background on which literary works and events can become fully available. Secondly, the article analyses how literary critics or more broadly philosophers and sociologists interested in urban studies use literature to understand and describe the city in its artistic and everyday dimensions. The fruitful collaboration between city as an active factor shaping artistic imagination and writers leads to developing new forms of expression as well as formulating new ideas about art. It also offers a possibility to communicate with readers in ways which are better accommodated to modern visual imagination and different forms of everyday activity.

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