Cartographic realism in nineteenth-century literature
This case study seeks to use maps as a ground of comparison
of nineteenth-century realist fiction by posing the question: how did
nineteenth-century realist literature itself make use of and think about
maps? In order to do so, it considers maps not only as tools, but also as
complex objects. At once material, representational and discursive, maps unite a
number of features that make them an ideal site for a comparative analysis of
questions of representation, truth-value and realism that are central to the
literature of the period. The case study identifies three main roles that maps
played in nineteenth-century realist fiction: the first and most basic role concerns
readerly orientation; second, maps served as generators of fiction; and third, maps
provided a source for debates about representation itself. Rather than simply
inscribing the fiction in geospace, the accompanying maps raised the very question
of the relation between the text, the map, and their referents and called attention
to potential disjunctions between the imaginary fiction and real geospace. I use the
map as a prism to compare a range of nineteenth-century texts and the varying
functions and conceptions of realism their engagement with cartography entails. The
literary texts themselves thus appear to find their place along a spectrum from the
mappable to the unmappable, thereby positioning themselves in the midst of the
contemporary discussion about the referentiality of maps and the mappability of
literature.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Orientations
- 3.Maps as generators of fiction
- 4.Contested representations
- 5.The dark side of the map
- 6.Conclusion
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Works cited