For this issue of HYLAND, we sought to compile a reading list
of New York texts that each, in a unique way, reveals an insight
into the complex ebb and flow of the New York psyche, past or
present.
The views expressed in the works listed below do not necessarily
represent the views of this magazine. The editors have made
the decision to include in this list certain writers whose views
would be considered abhorrent today. But, in the aggregate,
an examination of these works would reflect the divergent
attitudes found in New York during the last almost two hundred
years and how far we have journeyed beyond some of the most
regrettable, scurrilous ones.
These writers represent the excitement, joy, angst and aspirations
of millions of New York lives.
Much of this literature is based on the encounter with the other,
an underlying fulcrum of all writing, sometimes revealing rather
nasty attitudes, the vast majority of which most New Yorkers
have moved beyond.
New Yorkers are tolerant of one another���s differences. Bigoted
attitudes expressed by writers as diverse as Norman Vincent
Peale, James Fenimore Cooper and Patricia Highsmith reveal
much about the journey towards acceptance of diversity that
this great city has achieved.
The Editors
HYLAND
