The study analyzes the literary representation of Lisbon through 35 novels from 1854 to 2009, revealing how 'literary space' reflects urban growth and historical periods. The research highlights significant spatial distribution, with a concentration in the 19th-century city, and shows an expansion of literary focus into urbanized areas over time. The integrative methodology offers a framework for comparative studies of literary spaces and urban geography.

1. Memories from Lisbon
an integrative approach to study
urban space and its literary
representation
Daniel Alves (IHC)
Ana Isabel Queiroz (IELT)
European Social Science History Conference, Glasgow, April 2012

2. Introduction
European Social Science History Conference, Glasgow, April 2012

3. Lisbon imaginary
• The literary representation of Lisbon was
studied from 35 novels published between 1854
and 2009, written by 30 authors, including some
of the most famous in the Portuguese literature.
European Social Science History Conference, Glasgow,
April 2012

4. Defining ‘literary space’
• the territory temporally
referenced and dated as
the setting for action, or
evoked by the characters,
that can be found in the
real territory, and thus
drawn on a map
European Social Science History Conference, Glasgow,
April 2012

5. Study area – Lisbon (84,62 km2)
European Social Science History Conference, Glasgow,
April 2012
Urban growth
along main
boulevards
(simplified)

6. Methodology
European Social Science History Conference, Glasgow, April 2012

7. Urban space and ‘chronotopes’
Ring 3 - the area of the city with greater urban
and demographic dynamism since the 1960s
Ring 2 - urban and demographic
development until the 1950s
Ring 1 - the 19th century city
• Space:
European Social Science History Conference, Glasgow,
April 2012

8. Urban space and ‘chronotopes’
• Time:
– 1st Period - from 1852 to 1910
(Monarchy)
– 2nd Period - from 1910 to 1926
(First Republic)
– 3rd Period - from 1926 to 1974
(Dictatorship)
– 4th Period - from 1974 to the present
(Democracy)
European Social Science History Conference, Glasgow,
April 2012

9. Analyzing the ‘literary space’
• Spatial distribution
– Average Nearest
Neighborhood
• Space and time
– Chi-square
– Spearman Rank Coefficient
• Density and dimension
– Kernel point density
– Home Range
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April 2012

10. ‘Literary space’ = Home range 95%
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11. Results and discussion
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12. Spatial distribution
Places:
Ring 1 = 79%
Ring 2 = 18%
Ring 3 = 3%
European Social Science History Conference, Glasgow,
April 2012
Average Nearest
Neighborhood:
• Clustered in the
nineteenth century
city (ring 1);
• Random in the rest
(rings 2 and 3).
•Literature about Lisbon tends to depict the
historical and consolidated urban space

13. Space and time (places)
Ring 1 Ring 2 Ring 3
N % N % N % All
1st 225 87 31 12 4 1,5 260
2nd 197 88 22 9,8 5 2,2 224
3rd 192 79 43 18 7 2,9 242
4th 177 66 77 29 14 5,2 268
• Chi-square =103,9 (p-value < 0.01)
• Although literature concentrates its
imaginary in the old city between the
1st and the 3rd periods, with time, the
literary space tends to expand from
the city core into urbanized areas of
the first half of the 20th century
European Social Science History Conference, Glasgow,
April 2012

14. Space and time (areas)
60,00
50,00
40,00
30,00
20,00
10,00
0,00
0 1 2 3 4
Periods
Area Km2
. each novel
_ tendency
• Spearman = 0,46898 (p-value < 0.01)
• With the exception of the novels from
the 3rd period, the tendency of the
literary space is to embrace ever
larger areas of the city
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15. Density (places by period)
1st
2nd
3rd 4th
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16. Density and location (places)
• From first to last period, there is a gradual
fragmentation of the literary space, and
a change in its composition
• The core, while located in substantially
the same area, it becomes increasingly
thinner
• But until the end of the 3rd period, it's the
19th century city that concentrates the
writers attention
• In the 4th period, we observe the
implosion of the aggregate core and
other centers of lower expression become
visible, now also in ring 2
• This change can result from the
consolidation of urban experiences in
other areas of the modern city as well as
transformations regarding city's mobility
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April 2012

17. Dimension (areas by period)
1st
2nd
3rd 4th
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18. Dimension and location (areas)
• The common literary space is very
restricted in the first and third periods,
seemingly expanding in the second,
and essentially in the last period
• The cumulative space seems to
evolve differently, apparently falling
between the first and third periods,
and then expanding very significantly
in the last period
• The results suggest, for a period of
more than 100 years, between 1852
and 1974, a literary imaginary spatially
linked to the nineteenth century city
European Social Science History Conference, Glasgow, April 2012
Social Science History Conference, Glasgow,
April 2012

19. Conclusions
• Literary spaces of each of the historical periods gain the
representation of social space, with significance for the
history and geography of the city
• An integrative methodology to conciliate a subjective
and an objective reading of the city space
• The methodology used in this research
becomes comparable and replicable using
another literary corpus or other geography
• The incorporation of dimension and time
allows comparison of the literary space of
the novels, or sets of novels, and its
exploration in combination with data from
different origins and natures
European Social Science History Conference, Glasgow, April 2012
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April 2012

20. Conclusions
European Social Science History Conference, Glasgow, April 2012
Space
Social Science History Conference, Glasgow,
April 2012
Places
Points (e.g. Moretti 1999) Points and Spots (e.g.
Cooper and Gregory 2011)
Points, Spots and Polygons
(Alves and Queiroz 2012)
Location Location Location
Structure Structure
Dimension
Points Spots Polygons