The city poetical sphere. The city as a single whole (a fragment of the book)

Addressing the integral image of the city in fiction, the author of the article attempts at classifying elements of the poetical sphere that is a whole of complex real and meaningful combinations of special and poetical character that upgrade life pragmatics to the level of mythological consciousness and aesthetic experience. The author views: the vertical cut of the city and its horizontal panorama, metasociological (the city as man and woman, as an object of possession, seizure or destruction) and moral characteristics (the city as a parabola for human merits or vices). Basic cases of the unfolded metaphorization of the city: city-mother, city-whore, city-labyrinth, city-forest and, finally, identification of the city image with the model of the whole world are described.