Reading the city through literature

Abstract

This paper aims at bring the gaze of literature closer to the city. This gaze is used to create a focus enabling a “reading” of the city from its “textuality”; that is to say, from its path, so that we can position ourselves within society’s “writing” in each spatial delimitation. In order to do this, we looked into the connection between literature and geography and we selected certain works and authors, which have looked at the city, nature and landscapes from a literary stance. We have found that both literature and authors can move away from the daily gaze and portray the other city - that which ends up fading in space overlapping, maelstrom and everyday life.