Comments on: New York Subway Fiction Suggestions

Question: New York Subway Fiction Suggestions

billtron — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:15:44 -0800

LiteratureFilter: Yo metafilterland. I'm on a quest for two things: literary representations of the new york city subway, the more personal and sensorial the better, and literary representations of a new york city without subways, circa before 1904. Non-fiction and suggestions are welcome as well, as are examples that use less stringent definitions of "text" (film, song lyrics, dance etc).

By: Prospero

Prospero — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:22:22 -0800

NYC subway riding plays an important part in Thomas Pynchon's V.

By: amro

amro — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:26:45 -0800

Time and Again by Jack Finney.

By: tallus

tallus — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:33:52 -0800

Libra by Don DeLillo, opens with an extended description of a young Lee Harvey Oswald riding the subway trains.

By: Miko

Miko — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:42:28 -0800

Garrison Kiellor writes about the subway now and then. There's a short piece in his collection "We Are Still Married," as well, that isn't published on the web.

By: Sidhedevil

Sidhedevil — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:44:55 -0800

Pre-subway:

When you say "representations of New York without subways" are you looking for representations of the previous public transit systems (horsecars, steam trams, electric trolleys)?

A Hazard of New Fortunes by William Dean Howells has an uncommon number of scenes on the horsecars.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton is an incredibly vivid portrait of 1870s New York.

There are a number of children's books published in the early 20th century that talk a lot about 19th-century New York and discuss the old public transit: Horsecars and Cobblestones by Sophie Ruskay is a fine one.

Lewis Mumford wrote some wonderful short memoirs about his childhood in turn-of-the-century New York; they were published in The New Yorker in the 1930s and are generally included in any collection you'll find of his works.

Post-subway:

Joseph Mitchell's writing is like a spell to summon 20th-century Manhattan. The collection Up in the Old Hotel is a good place to start.

Also Dawn Powell. There's a bit about the subway in The Golden Spur.

Invisible Man has some subway stuff, including an interesting scene where the protag sees nuns praying on a subway platform.

On the Town has a subplot with one of the characters falling in love with "Miss Turnstiles" (based on the real life "Miss Subways" who was selected annually to represent the Transit Authority in advertising).

And of course, the TV show "Beauty and the Beast" (with Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman) took place in a New York underground kingdom that one could access through the subways.

By: jrishel

jrishel — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:48:35 -0800

Slake's Limbo, a 13 year old boy runs away and lives in the subway.

By: pupdog

pupdog — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:56:27 -0800

There are parts of Scott Westerfeld's Peeps taking place in the tunnels and such, as well as other bits of underground NYC - also a fairly entertaining read.

By: mattbucher

mattbucher — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:58:25 -0800

There is an anthology of NYC subway stories called Subway Chronicles. I'd also recommend Finney's Time and Again.

By: matildaben

matildaben — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:20:06 -0800

Speak, Hoyt Schermerhorn by Jonathan Lethem. (Also available in the collection The Disappointment Artist.)

By: 8dot3

8dot3 — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:21:30 -0800

One of the most bizarrely fascinating books I've ever read was Subway Lives, a 300+ page tome on the history of the New York subway systems. It talked about the history of transport in New York, as well as how changes in the system changed daily life in NY in ways no one would have predicted. (One of the goofy things I always remember was how when the base fare went from $1 to $1.05, the local economy of NY was inundated with millions of pennies that had been sitting in peoples homes in change jars for years. It affected tellers at banks, people making change in stores, the weight of bank deposits, the time it took store clerks to count change at the end of the night.)
Looks like it's out of print but available. Great read.

By: tractorfeed

tractorfeed — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:33:13 -0800

The 1967 film Dutchman takes place entirely in a New York City subway car. Also, The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3 is a great subway film.

By: Artw

Artw — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:57:10 -0800

Stretching the meaning of text - Dark Days

By: orange swan

orange swan — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 09:28:56 -0800

Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground. This is a collection of ten filmed vignettes that all take place on the subway in New York, and all the vignettes are based on real-life experiences.

By: machine

machine — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 09:47:39 -0800

"The Alienist" and "The Angel of Darness" by Caleb Carr are set in New York pre-subway. Even has Teddy Roosevelt pre-President.

By: Metroid Baby

Metroid Baby — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 10:09:26 -0800

I have wanted to read The Mole People for quite some time now. There have been criticisms of its veracity, but it looks like a good read nonetheless.

It's not exactly about the subway, but Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City involves a secret network of tunnels underneath NYC, and is a pretty good read for a "young adult" book.

And if you're into the secrets-underneath-New-York theme, perhaps there's something in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles canon that'd interest you? Not sure how much they ride the subway, though.

By: ignignokt

ignignokt — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 10:15:33 -0800

The movie Gangs of New York portrays an almost mythological early New York, replete with secret Irish tunnels under New York and primitive large-scale ethnic clashes.

By: Artw

Artw — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 10:27:22 -0800

Theres dark goings on beneath New York (and racism) in Lovecrafts The Horror at Red Hook.

By: Quietgal

Quietgal — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 10:35:42 -0800

There's a scene in "Saturday Night Fever" in which John Travolta is wearing his flashy white disco duds in a grimy graffiti-covered subway car. (That was the subway of my youth and I'm always surprised when I visit NYC and the subways are reasonably clean and not breaking down at every other station.) It's a stretch to say this movie is about the subways, but the contrast between the system now and in the 1970s is pretty interesting.

In "Catcher in the Rye" Holden Caulfield leaves the fencing team's gear on the subway. Again a stretch, but how can you not mention "Catcher in the Rye" in connection with New York?

By: Calloused_Foot

Calloused_Foot — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:52:42 -0800

Money Train isn't a particularly good movie, but a lot of it involves the subway

By: SallyHitMeOntheHead

SallyHitMeOntheHead — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:30:59 -0800

The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three is also a book.

Also, Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer is about NY about the time they were building the subways, but it's also fiction.

By: tylerfulltilt

tylerfulltilt — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:05:43 -0800

Large sections of Sol Yurick's The Warriors take place on the New York city L trains and subways