URBAN ARCHITECTURE AS A PSYCHOLOGICAL NARRATIVE SPACE IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICAN FICTION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SELECTED NOVELS

This article investigates the role of urban architecture as a psychological narrative space in twentieth-century American fiction through a comparative analysis of The Great Gatsby, Manhattan Transfer, Invisible Man, and Jazz. The study explores how architectural structures, including streets, skyscrapers, public spaces, residential districts, and transportation systems, influence the psychological development of literary characters and shape narrative progression. Particular attention is devoted to the relationship between urban environment, emotional perception, identity formation, social exclusion, and behavioural transformation. Using comparative literary analysis and narrative theory, the research demonstrates that the American metropolis functions not merely as a physical setting but as an active psychological and symbolic system that directs character experience and artistic meaning. The article proposes an original conceptual model explaining the sequential interaction between urban architecture, psychological perception, emotional response, behavioural transformation, and narrative development. The findings contribute to contemporary studies of urban poetics, narrative space, environmental psychology, and twentieth-century American literature.