Cities in Flight

Style and Technique

James Blish's style in «Cities in Flight» is marked by refined restraint and scientific precision, combined with poetic imagery. The novel's language is rich in technical terms and neologisms, creating an atmosphere of authenticity and immersing the reader in a complex, meticulously crafted future world. The author skillfully uses metaphors and allusions to highlight the grandeur and tragedy of the human condition in space. The narrative has a rhythmic rigor: short, concise dialogues alternate with expansive descriptions of cities floating in the endless void. Blish structures the novel as an epic, dividing the story into separate parts, each revealing a new facet of the cosmic wanderers' lives. Special attention is paid to the inner world of the characters, their philosophical musings on time, freedom, and the price of progress. Literary devices—from retrospection to symbolic details—serve to create a deep, multilayered picture where the destinies of people and cities are woven into a single symphony of eternal movement.