Urban Narratives: Building Barcelona Through Literature

Acting as a mirror of the fears and anxieties of the modern individual faced with society’s transformations, the city gives shape to the ideal of progress, as well as to the frustrations when this ideal is not realized. Equally problematic and paradoxical, the literary image of the metropolis gravitates between idealisation and demonisation, as demonstrated by the modern novel from the 19th century to the present. In a trajectory that follows not only the topographic and social changes undergone by the city, but also the succession of narrative models that reflect them, this book proposes a historical and critical revision of the literary image of Barcelona, constructed and re-elaborated over the past 150 years.