How Useful Is Thematic Cartography of Literature?

Authors

  • Jörg Döring

Keywords:

literary geography, thematic cartography, fiction, mapping, maps, distant reading, toponyms

Abstract

By discussing selected examples from literary geography, this article addresses the following questions: What is the difference between maps in fiction and maps of fiction? How mappable is fiction in general? How useful is an author’s geography? What is the benefit of the distant reading enabled by literary maps as opposed to the close reading of literary texts? Should literary scholars, if they decide to map, prefer to map single texts or large groups of texts?

References

Döring, Jörg. “Distant Reading. Zur Geographie der Toponyme in Berlin-Prosa seit 1989.” Zeitschrift für Germanistik N. F. 18 (2008): 596–620.

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Monmonier, Mark. How to Lie with Maps. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.

Moretti, Franco. Atlas of the European Novel 1800–1900. London: Verso, 1998.

– – –. Graphs, Maps, Trees: Abstract Models for a Literary History. London: Verso, 2005.

Nagel, Siegfried Robert. Deutscher Literaturatlas. Die geographische und politische Verteilung der deutschen Dichtung in ihrer Entwicklung nebst einem Anhang von Lebenskarten der bedeutendsten Dichter. Vienna: Fromme, 1907.

Piatti, Barbara. Die Geographie der Literatur. Schauplätze, Handlungsräume, Raumphantasien. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2008.

Schnabel, Johann Gottfried. Insel Felsenburg. Mit Ludwig Tiecks Vorrede zur Ausgabe von 1828. Ed. Volker Meid and Ingeborg Springer-Strand. Stuttgart: Reclam, 1998.

Staffel, Tim. Terrordrom. Munich: List, 2002.

Stockhammer, Robert. Die Kartierung der Erde. Macht und Lust in Karten und Literatur. Munich: Fink, 2007.

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Published

2017-10-26

Issue

Section

Thematic section