Urban Space and Late Twentieth-Century New York Literature ― Reformed Geographies

How does literary production respond to processes of urbanization? What do literary and cultural representations tell us about urban practices?

Guided by these questions, Urban Space and Late Twentieth-Century New York Literature theorizes literary geography anew by examining writers' responses to the uneven development of New York City. Catalina Neculai offers a rich critique of literature written during the consolidation of the Finance, Insurance and Real Estate (FIRE) industry in the 1970s and 1980s. Whether it is about the culture industries, gentrification, housing movements, or the finance economy, here New York literature becomes akin to urban fieldwork that produces knowledge of space and engages with the politics of place. Interdisciplinary in conception and design, the book draws on fiction, non-fiction, grassroots narratives, archival material, radical Marxist geography, urban politics, and urban history.

Catalina Neculai is currently a lecturer in the Centre for Academic Writing at Coventry University, UK. Previously, she was a Research Fellow in English and Comparative Literary Studies at the University of Warwick where she developed an active interest in literary and cultural engagements with contemporary urbanization and community practices.