An architectural reading on city image in literature

Abstract

Urban space narratives in literary works constitute a productive research area for architecture. Writers who frequently use the same city in their works are associated with that city after a while. Literary works that become a part of the city carry traces of city identity. In this study, in which the relationship between literature and architecture is examined on a city scale, the cities of Dublin, London, Istanbul and Mardin were selected with the purposive sampling method. The works of Dubliners (James Joyce), Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens), The Black Book (Orhan Pamuk) and Harita Metod Defteri (Murathan Mungan) of the authors identified with the selected cities were evaluated respectively. The intersection of literature and urban spaces was analyzed from an architectural perspective. Considering the relationship between the process of writers' identification with cities and city identity, artificial environment components were searched for in the selected works. The artificial environment components in these works were identified by content analysis method. Monumental buildings, squares and streets that constitute the components of the artificial environment were identified. From the bustling streets of Victorian London to the narrow streets of Mardin, city narratives depicted in literature were analyzed. As a result of comparative evaluations, suggestions that will add value to the city in the literature-architecture intersection are presented.