Jan 24 2009
Maps of the Imagination, The Writer As Cartographer
Maps of the Imagination -by Peter Turchi
Maps of the Imagination has affirmed my long-held belief that every book should have pictures. With each turn of the page, new and fascinating maps, paintings, sketches, and diagrams are revealed. In some instances they directly support author Peter Turchi’s argument; in other cases, they’re shown just to captivate the reader (it usually works).
Peter Turchi has written a completely compelling discussion of how writers are in many ways the same as traditional geographic cartographers. When asked to name a cartographer, the names Blaeu, Mercator, Lewis, Clark, or Columbus might immediately come to mind. But what about Italo Calvino, Kate Chopin, Vladamir Nabokov, or James Joyce? According to Turchi, these writers are also cartographers – just as a geographic cartographer selects (and de-deselects) information to best achieve the purpose of the map, writers select only certain parts of reality to map a fictional, yet relatable, world.
But Turchi doesn’t merely point out books that have geography as a central metaphor. Rather, he points out novels and short stories that are well crafted and he helps us deconstruct the author’s methods and shows us why the novel successfully allows us to mentally map imaginary places. All of this leads us to the conclusion that stories are in fact many-paged maps. He also discusses some interesting facts about the history of maps and cartography, such as the origin of “The Orange Peel Problem.”
Even though this book could easily be labeled “Literary Theory,” it’s still accessible to anyone interested in writing, reading, or mapping. You’ll probably get more from this book if you are familiar with certain authors (the ones above for example) or certain story lines, but Turchi explains enough about each example story that the reader won’t feel lost. And if you do get slightly lost, just enjoy all the wonderful illustrations.
Read more: Book Reviews, Map books, Maps, Peter Turchi, WritersJess is a GCB alum and now contributes to the travel blog as often as she can. Jess attended Middlebury College so she loves the Green Mountain State. She also studied abroad in Paris for a semester and has traveled through much of western Europe and the UK. Her most recent travels include trips to Portland, OR, Los Angeles, CA and Spain (Madrid and Andalusia). She lives in Brooklyn, NY.
