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Descriptions of cities in literature display rival images of “utopia” and “arcadia.” Utopia is a political, philosophical, and architectural vision, whereas arcadia is a mythical and literary conception, an order of harmony. This dialectic is clearly demonstrated, for example, in the image of Los Angeles in literature where the actual Los Angeles is juxtaposed against a lost or proposed paradisical image. Urban history in literary imagination constantly plays off contrary forces and values against each other and it is through this process that the reader is encouraged to imagine his or her own utopia (the “ideal city” of architects). A contextualist approach that evaluates the idea of the city in literature with respect to theories, visions, and metaphors that dominate the practice of city building would benefit both literary criticism and urbanism.
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