Urban Microcosms 1789-1940

Urban microcosms are small-scale
communal spaces that are integral to, or integrated into, city life. Some, such
as railway stations or department stores, are typically located in city centres.
Others, such as parks, are less quintessentially metropolitan, whilst harbours
or beaches are often located on the peripheries of cities or outside them
altogether. All are part of a network of nodes establishing connections in and
beyond the city. Together, they shape and inflect the infrastructure of modern
life. By introducing the concept of urban
microcosm into social, cultural, and literary studies, this interdisciplinary
volume challenges the widely held assumption that city life is evenly spread
across its spaces. Sixteen case studies focus on selected urban microcosms from
across Europe between 1789 and 1940, and examine the external appearance, representation,
histories, and internal rules of these organizational structures and
facilities. In so doing, they contribute to an understanding of modernity, and
of the impact of the dynamics of urban life on human experience and
intersubjectivity.

Margit Dirscherl is Lecturer in
German at St Hugh's, University of Oxford. Astrid Köhler is Professor of German
Literature and Comparative Cultural Studies at Queen Mary University of London.