The City & the City

by

China Miéville

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Between the City and the City Symbol Analysis

Between the City and the City Symbol Icon

Dr. David Bowden’s book Between the City and the City—which argues the existence of a mythical third city, Orciny, between Besźel and Ul Qoma—symbolizes both the power and pitfalls of illicit, dissident knowledge. The book was published some years before the time at which the novel is set by a “long-gone anarcho-hippy press.” When it first came out it was very popular, but is now seen as a “mildly embarrassing throwback.” It is technically banned, although like most censorship of books, this is not strictly enforced. Overall, then, Between the City and the City is presented in a somewhat paradoxical light—it would be treated as dangerous if people took it seriously, yet because they don’t, it is largely dismissed as silly and unimportant. This illustrates the way in which dissident knowledge only becomes powerful if people actually take it seriously. In Besźel and Ul Qoma (as in the rest of the world) conspiracy theories abound, but only the ones that are persuasive enough for people to actually believe them have any power. For much of the novel, Borlú thinks that Mahalia believed in Orciny, and sees her heavily annotated copy of Between the City and the City as proof of this. However, the twist at the end of the novel is that Mahalia didn’t believe in Orciny and realized that Orciny was in fact a cover for the theft committed by Sear and Core. Borlú eventually comes to understand that her annotations in the book reflect this realization. Between the City and the City thus illustrates that when it comes to subversive knowledge, distinguishing between truth, myth, and conspiracy is extremely difficult, requiring people to reverse their assumptions about the way the world works often more than once.

Between the City and the City Quotes in The City & the City

The The City & the City quotes below all refer to the symbol of Between the City and the City. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Borders and Doubles Theme Icon
).
Chapter 8 Quotes

Okay I need to be a little bit careful here, Inspector, because honestly I never really, not really, thought he did believe it—I always thought it was kind of a game—but the book said he believed it […] A secret colony. A city between the cities, its inhabitants living in plain sight […] Unseen, like Ul Qomans to the Besź and vice versa. Walking the streets unseen but overlooking the two. Beyond the Breach. And doing what, who knows? Secret agendas. They’re still debating that, I don’t doubt, on the conspiracy theory websites.

Related Characters: Professor Isabelle Nancy (speaker), Inspector Tyador Borlú, Mahalia Geary (a.k.a. Fulana/Marya/Byela Mar) , Dr. David Bowden
Related Symbols: Breach, Between the City and the City
Page Number: 90
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

“Of course it’s ludicrous, like you say. Secret overlords behind the scene, more powerful even than Breach, puppetmasters, hidden cities.”

“Crap.”

“Yeah, but the point is that it’s crap a bunch of people believe. And”—I opened my hands at him—“something big’s going on, and we have no idea what it is.”

Related Characters: Inspector Tyador Borlú (speaker), Detective Qussim Dhatt (speaker), Dr. David Bowden, Yolanda Rodriguez
Related Symbols: Breach, Between the City and the City
Page Number: 193
Explanation and Analysis:
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Between the City and the City Symbol Timeline in The City & the City

The timeline below shows where the symbol Between the City and the City appears in The City & the City. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 8
Paranoia, Conspiracy, and Illicit Knowledge Theme Icon
...in the early work of David Bowden, particularly a book he wrote about Orciny called Between the City and the City . (full context)
Paranoia, Conspiracy, and Illicit Knowledge Theme Icon
Nancy explains that Between the City and the City is banned in both Besźel and Ul Qoma. Although she thinks the book has moments... (full context)
Borders and Doubles Theme Icon
Seeing vs. Unseeing Theme Icon
Crime vs. Punishment Theme Icon
Urban Life and Alienation Theme Icon
Paranoia, Conspiracy, and Illicit Knowledge Theme Icon
...conspiracy websites, including fracturedcity.org where “dopplurbanology” obsessives congregate. There, he finds a few excerpts from Between the City and the City . Borlú then gets a call from one of the officers at the hotel where... (full context)
Chapter 10
Borders and Doubles Theme Icon
Seeing vs. Unseeing Theme Icon
Crime vs. Punishment Theme Icon
Paranoia, Conspiracy, and Illicit Knowledge Theme Icon
While Borlú prepares to go to Ul Qoma, he receives the copy of Between the City and the City that he ordered online through a link from fracturedcity.org. Buying it was not a great... (full context)
Chapter 13
Borders and Doubles Theme Icon
Paranoia, Conspiracy, and Illicit Knowledge Theme Icon
...Dhatt says it’s not possible. Alone in his hotel room, Borlú reads a bit of Between the City and the City , then flicks through Ul Qoman television. He decides to go out into the night. (full context)
Chapter 15
Crime vs. Punishment Theme Icon
Paranoia, Conspiracy, and Illicit Knowledge Theme Icon
...he says that Orciny isn’t real, he also emphasizes that 85% of the research in Between the City and the City “still holds up and is still used.” When he first met Mahalia at the conference... (full context)
Chapter 16
Crime vs. Punishment Theme Icon
Paranoia, Conspiracy, and Illicit Knowledge Theme Icon
Borlú looks through Between the City and the City . Bowden’s readings of unsolved historical mysteries are compelling and even “ingenious,” but his conclusions... (full context)
Chapter 21
Borders and Doubles Theme Icon
Crime vs. Punishment Theme Icon
Paranoia, Conspiracy, and Illicit Knowledge Theme Icon
...check out of his hotel. He leaves his belongings there, all except his copy of Between the City and the City . (full context)
Chapter 24
Paranoia, Conspiracy, and Illicit Knowledge Theme Icon
...for a book without a reference number. Eventually they find it: a heavily-used copy of Between the City and the City . Inside, Mahalia has scribbled all over the margins, things like “REALLY? CF HARRIS ET... (full context)
Chapter 25
Borders and Doubles Theme Icon
Seeing vs. Unseeing Theme Icon
Urban Life and Alienation Theme Icon
Paranoia, Conspiracy, and Illicit Knowledge Theme Icon
...in the Breach headquarters, Ashil brings Borlú photocopies of every page of Mahalia’s copy of Between the City and the City . That evening, they walk together in the outside world. By now, Borlú realizes that... (full context)