Title: A Landmark in the Study of Cutting-edge Topics in Foreign Literature: Review of Approaching the Features of Urbanization in 21st-Century American Fiction

Abstract: Urban writing is a cutting-edge topic in foreign literature research. Professor Yang Jincai’s Approaching the Features of Urbanization in 21st-Century American Fiction is the first monograph in China to systematically and deeply explore urban writing in American fiction of this century. This work centers on the representation of urbanization, examining urban spaces, social landscapes, and cultural scenery in the works of important American writers, exploring the development and evolution of towns and cities, as well as the multiple crises and possible way out of urban residents, and looking forward to the future of human civilization. The book is ambitious in its conception, broad in its vision, rigorous in its chapters, and full of original ideas, forming a research paradigm that integrates grand outlines and fine analysis of urban writing. It leads a new trend in domestic academic circles and stands as a masterpiece work in the study of urban writing in foreign literature at home.

Keywords: Approaching the Features of Urbanization in 21st-Century American Fiction, urban writing, American Literature

Author: Qingfen Meng, Lecturer, College of Liberal Arts, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.

DOI: 10.19967/j.cnki.flc.2026.01.017