The City & the City (novel)

The City & the City (novel)
Attribution
Author	China Miéville
Cover artist	Christopher Papasadero
Publication information
Publisher	Mcmillan
Release date	15 May 2009
Pages	312 (UK)

The City & the City is a novel by British author China Miéville that follows a wide-reaching murder investigation in two cities that occupy the same space simultaneously, combining weird fiction with the police procedural. It was written as a gift for Miéville's terminally ill mother, who was a fan of the latter genre. The novel was published by Macmillan on 15 May 2009.

Dedication

In loving memory of my mother, Claudia Lightfoot

Acknowledgements

For all their help with this book I’m extremely grateful to Stefanie Bierwerth, Mark Bould, Christine Cabello, Mic Cheetham, Julie Crisp, Simon Kavanagh, Penny Haynes, Chloe Healy, Deanna Hoak, Peter Lavery, Farah Mendlesohn, Jemima Miéville, David Moench, Sue Moe, Sandy Rankin, Maria Rejt, Rebecca Saunders, Max Schaefer, Jane Soodalter, Jesse Soodalter, Dave Stevenson, Paul Taunton, and to my editors Chris Schluep and Jeremy Trevathan. My sincere thanks to all at Del Rey and Macmillan. Thanks to John Curran Davis for his wonderful translations of Bruno Schulz.

Among the countless writers to whom I’m indebted, those I’m particularly aware of and grateful to with regard to this book include Raymond Chandler, Franz Kafka, Alfred Kubin, Jan Morris, and Bruno Schulz.

Epigraph

"Deep inside the town there open up, so to speak, double streets, doppelganger streets, mendacious and delusive streets."

—Bruno Schulz, The Cinnamon Shops and Other Stories

Plot summary

Inspector Tyador Borlú, of the Extreme Crime Squad in the fictional East European city-state of Besźel, investigates the murder of Mahalia Geary, a foreign student found dead in a Besźel street with her face disfigured. He soon learns that Geary had been involved in the political and cultural turmoil involving Besźel and its "twin city" of Ul Qoma. His investigations start in his home city of Besźel, lead him to Ul Qoma to assist the Ul Qoman police in their work, and eventually result in an examination of the legend of Orciny, a rumoured third city existing in the spaces between Besźel and Ul Qoma.

Setting

The City & the City is set in the fictional twin city-states of Besźel and Ul Qoma, located in Eastern Europe near the Black Sea. Though they occupy the same geographical space, their citizens perceive them as separate through cultural conditioning and strict laws enforced by the mysterious power known as Breach. Residents must "unsee" the other city’s people and structures, with violations—intentional or accidental—considered a serious crime.

The cities have different languages, religions, and architectural styles, with zones classified as total (belonging to one city), alter (belonging to the other), and crosshatched (shared but unseen by residents). Legal passage between them is only possible through Copula Hall.

Breach monitors and punishes rule-breakers, permanently disappearing those who cross the boundaries unlawfully. While children and tourists receive leniency, major breaches require formal invocation by a bi-city Oversight Committee, as Breach’s involvement is seen as a loss of sovereignty.

China Miéville's novels and other works