Why go
The city's literary identity is unusually visible in its geography. Mid-century writers and critics gathered around institutions such as City College and journals including The Partisan Review, while novels such as The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged used New York as their setting. Marvel Comics made the city’s addresses part of its fictional world, especially in Queens and Midtown.
The full story
In the mid-twentieth century, a group often called the New York Intellectuals brought writers and critics into debates about politics, literary theory, and culture. Many had studied at City College of New York in the 1930s and were connected to The Partisan Review. Their work reminds visitors that New York's literary history is not confined to famous authors' homes; it also belongs to colleges, magazines, argument, and the neighborhoods that supported them. The city has also become a literary setting in its own right. Ayn Rand lived in New York and set both The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged there. Marvel Comics made a different choice by locating stories in recognizably real streets: Peter Parker lived in Forest Hills, Queens, and the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building stood at an invented address on Madison Avenue. A walk through the actual city can therefore carry both historical and fictional associations.