Cities in Literature: New York

Welcome to the Jazz Age in the Big Smoke. Or the Big Apple. Whatever you want to call it, just make sure your stockings are tight and your hat is held high!

We’ll start our journey exploring high society in Edith Wharton’s ‘The Age of Innocence’ before attending the most dazzling and daring party of them all in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’.

While Henry James’ ´Washington Square´ will see interfering fathers attempt to thwart the path of love, we'll encounter two very different visions of how to change and champion New York’s society in William Dean Howell’s ‘A Hazard of New Fortunes’.

Lastly, we’ll return to the rotten roots of New York’s foundations in Washington Irving’s ‘A History of New York’. It will make you stop, think, and reimagine the concrete jungle as we know it today.

‘Cities in Literature: New York’ is not only the perfect historical companion for fans of ‘The Big Short’ starring Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, and Brad Pitt but essential reading for fans of Leonardo DiCaprio in the smash-hit film ‘The Great Gatsby’.

Henry James (1843-1916) was an American-British author, regarded as a key literary figure between realism and literary modernism. His works span ‘The Portrait of a Lady’, ‘The Ambassadors’, and ‘The Wings of Love’.

Washington Irving (1783- 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, and diplomat. A prolific author, Irving wrote ‘The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent’, ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’, and ‘Rip Van Winkle.’

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature. Her work spans ‘The Age of Innocence’, ‘The House of Mirth’, and ‘Ethan Frome’.

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) was an American novelist and short story writer. He is celebrated for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age, most notably with ‘The Great Gatsby’.

William Dean Howells (1837-1920) was an American novelist and playwright nicknamed ‘The Dean of American Letters’. His works span 'Christmas Every Day', 'The Rise of Silas Lapham', and 'A Traveler from Altruria'.