作家在都市中寻找什么呢?可能人类的城市仿佛是打开的书本。街道与马路的结构、广场的公共地带、人群的移动、思想的流动与身体的混杂、建筑的节奏,这些与文学创作相应,它们既是灵感,又是批判,而且还是一种反衬。现代都市,在其所有的暴力与复杂中,从某种程度上成为作家的镜子,一枚巨大的放大镜,透过它,作家可以发现人类关系的错综复杂,同时还有他自身的投影。也许这就是为什么大部分当代文学作品似乎都同城市生活相联系,尤其是小说作品。纽约作为移民城市与混居城市,正是20世纪小说创作 What do writers look for in the cities? Perhaps the human city seems to be an open book. The structure of streets and roads, the public areas of squares, the movement of people, the flow of ideas and the mixture of bodies, and the rhythm of buildings correspond to literary creation. They are both inspirational and critical, but also contrasting. In all its violence and sophistication, the modern city is to some extent a mirror of the writer, a huge magnifying glass, through which writers can discover the intricacies of human relations and, at the same time, his own projection. Perhaps this is why most contemporary literary works seem to be linked to urban life, especially fiction. New York, as an immigrant city and a mixed city, is exactly the 20th century novel creation