Imagined Cities - 7 Urban Experience and the Language of the Novel CO ROBERT ALTERce from the foundation established in memory of Philip of the Class of 1894, Yale College. 2005 by Robert Alter bts reserved. ‘may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, illustrations, in any form (beyond that in the United States of America by Sheridan Books. ee of Congress ‘Cataloging-in-Publication Data 8. Cities and towns in literature. 1. Title. 2004026801 For Steve and Hannah Aschheim — with affectionContents Preface ix . Flaubert: The Demise of the Spectator 1 . Flaubert: Urban Poetics 23 . Dickens: The Realism of Metaphor 43 . Dickens: Intimations of Apocalypse 63 . Bely: Phantasmatic City 83 . Woolf: Urban Pastoral 103 - Joyce: Metropolitan Shuttle 121