In The City and the World Gregor Hens threads memoir with travelogue, philosophy, photography and references from a wide variety of writers and thinkers to consider the phenomenon of the contemporary city and our place within it.

In The City and the World Gregor Hens considers the phenomenon of the contemporary city and our place within it. Hens travels the world - from Berlin to Las Vegas to Shenzen, from Cologne to Santiago de Chile to Paris - reading, walking and swimming, asking how we perceive the city and how it may perceive us. Threading memoir and personal reflections with travelogue, philosophy, photography and references from a wide variety of writers and thinkers, The City and the World is a captivating, illuminating and expansive journey into the heart of the modern city.

Details

ISBN13: 9781804271698
Format: Paperback / softback
Number of Pages: 312
Edition:
Publication Date: 09 Sep 2025
Publisher: Fitzcarraldo Editions
Publication City, Country: London,United Kingdom
Dimensions (cm): 19.7(H)x12.5(L)
Weight (gm):

Author Biography

Gregor Hens, born in 1965, is a German writer and translator. He has notably translated Will Self, Jonathan Lethem and George Packer into German. The City and the World is his second book to be published by Fitzcarraldo Editions.

Jen Calleja is a writer, translator, curator and musician. She has translated prose and poetry for Bloomsbury, PEN International, the Austrian Cultural Forum London and the Goethe-Institut.

Reviews

'Gregor Hens combines memories and reflections, reportage and theory to create an impressive book about the phenomenon of the city.... The appeal of the book, however, lies not in the diversity of the topics addressed, but in the seemingly effortless and almost somnambulistic way in which Hens combines his own memories and reflections, reportage and theory.' - FAZ

'This book is a blessing.... In a mixture of essay, autobiographical recollection and dream travelogue, the Cologne-born author takes us into all these exciting storehouses of stories and history in his richly illustrated book.' - RND

'This is the driving principle of his book: by virtue of his imagination, his sensibility and his readings, the author succeeds in spinning a web whose individual threads touch and extend into the distance.' - Deutschlandradio Kultur