-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Re: Literary descriptions of cartomania?
Date:   Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:47:35 -0800
From:   Jon Jablonski <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To:       [log in to unmask]
To:     [log in to unmask]
CC:     Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship
<[log in to unmask]>
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I'd definitely recommend Barry Lopez's short story "The Mappist."  It
was also released as an artist's book, but I haven't seen it (anyone
want to ILL me a copy?).  It's one of my all-time favorite short stories.

I suspect there may be additional fodder in the Lopez-edited "Home
Ground: Language for an American Landscape" which provides definitions
for American landscape terms such as lava blister and zigzag rocks
written by literary authors.

-Jon Jablonski
 CartoReadersAdvisory, University of Oregon.

On 1/29/2010 6:04 AM, Angie Cope wrote:
> ------- Original Message --------
> Subject:        Literary descriptions of cartomania?
> Date:   Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:35:09 -0800
> From:   Ken-Jennings.com <[log in to unmask]>
> To:     [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> Hi, my name's Ken Jennings.  I'm an author working on a book, to be
> published next year by Scriber's, about map and geography enthusiasts
> of all kinds.  (I'm also the guy who was on the TV quiz show
> "Jeopardy" for much of 2004, if that rings a bell.)  The archives of
> this mailing list have been a great resource for me as I research the
> book, and I finally got around to subscribing a couple weeks ago.
>
> Here's my question, which isn't strictly related to map librarianship,
> but which I thought maybe somebody here could help with.  The books on
> cartography I read all tend to use the same few excerpts over and
> over: Robert Louis Stevenson writing about maps and how they informed
> Treasure Island, for example.  Or the bit from Heart of Darkness about
> how Marlow was always fascinated, as a boy, with the "blank spaces" on
> the map.  So I'm looking for compelling (and fresher!) descriptions of
> people's personal love of maps.
>
> In my research, I've come across a few less familiar accounts that
> I've really enjoyed.  This Gelett Burgess essay is very funny, for
> example:
> http://bit.ly/au9pba
> And John Ruskin was a map geek as well:
> http://bit.ly/acVckU
> I've also unearthed a few great novels about map lovers, like Clark
> Blaise's Lunar Attractions or Geoff Nicholson's Bleeding London.
>
> Do any of you have favorite passages about cartophilia, whether from
> fiction or non-?  On a related note, are there other famous names,
> past or present, who are on the record as map buffs?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Ken
> [log in to unmask]