New York City is a sprawling and vibrant city with a storied history. It serves as a cultural, economic, and social epicenter, revered and beloved around the world. This makes it a great subject of literature, and in 1949, Elwyn Brooks White released a classic, heartfelt tribute to the city titled Here is New York.
The nonfiction piece’s simple and direct title speaks to White’s straightforward prose, which he imbues with wonderful description and reflections. Divided into three sections, Here is New York is an examination of the essential character of the city and its people.
The first fragment is a love letter to the landscape of the city, chronicling its transformation from a paradisaical shoreline to its hectic bustle of a metropolis. White transitions from the pastoral vision of lush meadows to the majestic skyline that hosts an approximation of 800 languages and 10 million people, living and working in the city. He moves from general ideas to the smaller details that give the New York the look, feel, and scent of an urban oasis. His honest and vivid representations of the bridges, buildings, and monuments lend Here is New York a sense of personal history that is unparalleled.
The second part of Here is New York deals with the “gesture” of the city, which White argues is composed of hundreds of overlapping associations. He writes with an expert eye towards the dynamics between visitor and native, historic and modern, interconnection and isolation. He emphasizes the ever-changing nature of the city, which counts poetry readings, baseball games, and Broadway theater amongst its vibrancy. He speaks of the daily commutes dominated by traffic and then concludes by finally acknowledging the euphoric yet weepy sensation that comes for the one in love with the city.
The work concludes with its own reflection of the human condition and his love for the city. In describing the people who inhabit New York, White is incredibly honest. He looks at the citizens of NYC as representative of all living things, with their needs and desires. He posits that New Yorkers themselves are some of the strongest visionaries on the planet, while at the same time, they are prone to moments of desperation and can make terrifying missteps.
In Here is New York, White has crafted a timeless paean to the legendary city. His work melts the divide between sentimentality and harsh reality, between the mundane and the exceptional. He creates a sense of anxious longing when it comes to his beloved New York, allowing readers to tangibly feel the vibrancy of the city. White’s narrative is both intimate and wide-ranging. As he writes, “This is New York, and it belongs to the ages.”
