Volunteers, Priests and Community Work in Overpopulated New York City. (Literary Representations of Pre- and Post- 9/11 NYC)
Journal Title: Dialogo - Year 2018, Vol 4, Issue 2
Abstract
Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin (2009), considered a New York, Irish- American, immigrant, 1970s and post 9/11 novel, starts with Philippe Petit’s walk on a tightrope between the World Trade Center towers in New York in 1974. This historical event is used as a symbol which links space (Park Avenue and the Bronx at the extremes), time (1974 and 2006, the post 9/11 period) and characters’ stories. An overpopulated city in permanent change, New York is constructed in the novel vertically, horizontally as networks. The article will explore the relation between the real and fictional spaces of New York in its three dimensions, or as “thirdspace”, superimposing pre- and post- 9/11 cartographies. The most relvant dimension of the overcrowded city, the horizontal connection, is achieved through the hard work and dedication of an Irish Jesuite priest (in 1974) and two community volunteers (in 2006), each of them part of dedicated networks.
Authors and Affiliations
Nicoleta Stanca
“Be fruitful and increase in number…!” – An Orthodox perspective on overpopulation
Many voices adhered to the vision of the Anglican pastor Thomas Malthus (1766 – 1834), the author of An essay on the principle of population (1798), trying to draw attention on some presumed risks, more or less apocalypt...
“Heart” novel of Edmondo De Amicis in the Albanian language
The novel “Heart” (“Zemër” in the Albanian language) of the Italian author Edmondo De Amicis, published in Tirana in 1923 is the first book of the Italian literature for children translated into the Albanian language. Ev...
The Self-Knowledge and the Phenomenon of Estrangement/Alienation of the Human in Gnosticism
In the dawns of the new millennium, in a world of ideas continuously moving, dominated by the super-eminence of producing material goods, in a context of a new postmodern globalising society, which presents a hedonist me...
Obesity and Fast-Food
Obesity is one of the most significant public health challenges and becomes a public health problem. Consumption of fast-food, which have high energy densities and glycemic loads, and expose customers to excessive portio...
Volunteers, Priests and Community Work in Overpopulated New York City. (Literary Representations of Pre- and Post- 9/11 NYC)
Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin (2009), considered a New York, Irish- American, immigrant, 1970s and post 9/11 novel, starts with Philippe Petit’s walk on a tightrope between the World Trade Center towers in New...