Caminantes por la ciudad que nunca duerme

Abstract

In the lines that follow I present different visions of New York; the largest and most populated city in the USA. I focus on two metaphorical walkers who have toured, through their autobiographical pages, both the physical corners, and the “soul” and symbolic meaning of the first city in the western world. Those two walkers are the Jewish writers and critics Alfred Kazin and George Steiner, who, in their memoirs, have wandered across time and space in the hectic city that never sleeps. From George Steiner’s prophetical words, and Herman Melville’s allegory in Moby Dick we proceed, in the final part of the essay, to examine certain symbolic features of 9/11; the terrorist attack that altered the soul of New York.