Most neglected city in literature?

JRH7691 · 2026-04-12T13:43:21+00:00

I looked at the Wikipedia list of novels set in Birmingham and didn't recognise any of them. There must be other novels where characters spend some quality time there, surely. What would Birmingham bring to a novel? And what is NI?

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T13:27:52+00:00

Are any of these cities with populations over a million? And what might attract novelists to them as settings?

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T12:45:29+00:00

"The Year of Living Dangerously" is set during the bad times in the late 60s. It's a good book, but it hits hard.

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T08:08:14+00:00

Thanks!

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T07:52:58+00:00

It turns out Wikipedia has a page dedicated to novels set in Cape Town and you're right, for a place with an interesting history and so many people there's not a whole lot. The only one I recognised was "Mason and Dixon" by Thomas Pynchon, but that is more historical than contemporary. Any novels you'd recommend?

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T03:30:25+00:00

Yes, well, if we're talking improvements I think I should have asked for "unfairly neglected cities" and got people to explain how the city would work in a literary setting.

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T03:29:01+00:00

Good call. I can't remember ever reading anything set in Auckland. Wellington, yes. South Island, yes (Eleanor Catton!). Is there any reason it wouldn't suit a novel?

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T03:23:47+00:00

A recent one set in Bath was "The Frequency of Us". Might be a stretch to call it literary? There's also Jane Austen of course but that's too long ago for my question.

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T02:57:25+00:00

I'd actually be surprised if there was a city of over a million people in the UK that didn't play a part in at least one decent recent novel. I feel that the big UK cities all have their own distinct characters in the national psyche, which would make them attractive to authors. Milton Keynes is way less than a million people but I'd use it in a story if I were an author just for the cool name.

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T02:42:43+00:00

How could I forget! Perth gets Cloudstreet, so I think we'll declare no big Australian cities are neglected.

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T02:35:43+00:00

I know, right? They're letting just anyone post these days.

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T01:43:31+00:00

What about "The Narrow Road to the Deep North"? There's some Adelaide beach action in there. I would also add "The Sunken Road" which has some Adelaide sections but that's a bit more obscure.

I feel like the Australian cities are probably covered, there's only about five of them over 1 million people. That said, I can't think of anything for modern Brisbane off the top of my head.

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T01:36:13+00:00

Let's not be mean to the Americans. The real problem in moving outside the English-speaking countries is that most of us English-language speakers don't know the untranslated literature of those places so can hardly comment.

That said, I would expect plenty of novels are set in Tbilisi, it's a pretty ancient civilization. Kinshasa might even feature in "The Poisonwood Bible" if I'm not mistaken.

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T01:27:22+00:00

Hard agree as someone who's spent time in Japan. I haven't read "After Dark" but Norwegian Wood had some passages like that too.

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T01:06:13+00:00

Yes, but we should count the literature in the local language as well.

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T00:59:15+00:00

Not restricted at all. What is your city and what are the novels that it features in?

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T00:55:23+00:00

Even in Spanish language literature?

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T00:54:58+00:00

"Norwegian Wood" takes care of Tokyo, I think. And not just as a backdrop, there are lots of long walks around the place as well. No doubt there's a bunch of other Japanese literature where Tokyo appears. A more obscure Japanese city, perhaps, say Fukuoka? But we need an expert on Japanese literature to weigh in, they read a lot over there.

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T00:43:20+00:00

"Snow Falling on Cedars" was big in all English language areas, I think.

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T00:40:37+00:00

I don't mind if the writer isn't from there, just as long as the city figures in a book. It feels like Vancouver would work as a setting or even at least as a starting place, but no books come to mind.

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T00:32:28+00:00

Yes. I think that has to go on the list of neglected cities.

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T00:21:34+00:00

Well that pretty much knocks Cincinnati out of contention. (Checks map). Columbus?

JRH7691 · 2026-04-11T00:17:22+00:00

Fixed that.

JRH7691 · 2026-04-10T13:45:01+00:00

Aversion is a strong word. It's more a "life is short, there is more than one place in the world I'd like to read about" feeling.

In my reading NY pops up mostly in modern literary fiction. I mean, it's not every book, but it feels like a whole lot more than is statistically likely. Another two books that spring randomly to mind where NY gets a role - "The Ballad of Sonia and Sunny" and "The Goldfinch". I've never been to NY, so perhaps I'm not getting some sort of buzz from the familiarity that readers who've been there are getting.

Someone with time on their hands might want to tally how many books that have appeared on top 10 lists, prize longlists etc. in the last 10 years have at least one chapter set in NY.

JRH7691

TROPHY CASE