Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer [Paperback]

Peter Turchi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 28, 2007

InMaps of the Imagination,Peter Turchi posits the idea that maps help people understand where they are in the world in the same way that literature, whether realistic or experimental, attempts to explain human realities. The author explores how writers and cartographers use many of the same devices for plotting and executing their work, making crucial decisions about what to include and what to leave out, in order to get from here to there, without excess baggage or a confusing surplus of information. Turchi traces the history of maps, from their initial decorative and religious purposes to their later instructional applications. He describes how maps rely on projections in order to portray a three-dimensional world on the two-dimensional flat surface of paper, which he then relates to what writers do in projecting a literary work from the imagination onto the page.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

It's not uncommon to compare the writing of a story to the mapping of a world, but no one has so fully, or so seductively and rewardingly, performed as extended a meditation on this illuminating metaphor as Turchi. A fiction writer, anthologist, and the director of the MFA writing program at Warren Wilson College, Turchi parses with equal insight, knowledge, and elan the making of maps and the writing of fiction. Both involve purposeful omission; both require compression; both are subjective in their perspective, orientation, and emphasis; and both create illusions. Turchi's lively, idiosyncratic, and marvelously well-illustrated history of mapmaking (many cartographic quests are as quixotic as any in literature) is matched by reverie-inducing selections from Melville, Stevenson, Nabokov, Calvino, and Carver, as well as priceless musings on the Marx Brothers and the Road Runner. Ultimately, Turchi contrasts realistic and postrealistic approaches to storytelling, and concludes, "Reality is inexhaustible." Brilliant and pleasurable, Turchi's musing on our innate need to know where we are, where we might go, and why alters our perceptions of not only maps and fiction but also the nature of the mind's terra incognita. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"Maps of the Imagination . . . is an extended metaphor--not as far reaching as, say, Moby-Dick, but remarkably and satisfyingly meandering." -- Speakeasy, Oct. 2004

"Peter Turchi’s associative style leaps from fanciful fiction to the most sensible of maps. . . ." -- New York Arts Magazine, November/December

"Turchi's book, like any good map, tells us where we are and urges us to discover more." -- Charlotte Observer, Sept. 24, 2004 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 246 pages
• Publisher: Trinity University Press; First Trade Paper Edition edition (August 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595340416
• ISBN-13: 978-1595340412
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,215 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read the Text, Revel in the Illustrations, November 24, 2004

By 

JAL "jlwest" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer (Hardcover)

It's hard to know how to categorize this book: is it an art book or a book about writing? It's both, of course, and the text is very well-written, it's worth mulling over. But the genius of the book is its beautiful design and its inclusion of hundreds of illustrations. This is the kind of idiosyncratic book that drives bookstore staff mad - they never can figure out where to shelve it. The making of a map of the imagination is more than a metaphor, though thinking about "discovery and exploration" as metaphors for creativity is not exactly new. Beyond the metaphor, though, a writer's mapmaking is both necessary and practical - the mapping out of a work of fiction or of a poem, the actual exploration and plotting of a narrative arc, the sense that the writer is both guided by the mapmaking and providing a guide to his readers. Fascinating stuff, and truly beautiful and full of SO MANY extraordinary illustrations. It's one-of-a-kind, and worth purchasing. Pick it up and be seduced.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Left brain 'jumper cables' for the right brained, December 10, 2006

By 

robert johnston (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer (Hardcover)

Cartography is an analytical science ... mathematical, temporal, evolving. Novels are literal explorations. Perceiving a common link between the technical cartography and the creative novel becomes a fascinating common ground. Ever wonder how a left brainer thinks? Turchi gives us a hint.

Turchi makes a living from his application of the understanding of the technical structure of novels ... cartography is his hobby. Right brainers make a living from the technical ... novels are the hobby.

The subtleties and enjoyable descriptions of the structure and theory of great novels are merged with the structure and theory of great maps. How we use language and data to convey structural information is common ground in Turchi's premise.

For this reviewer, a great map improves efficiency in getting from "A" to "B". Turchi is revealing in his observation that humans use maps to reduce an anxious uncertainty of the unknown. As one of those 'if I'm lost, get loster' types, I suppose I do enjoy the ' ... get loster' adventure. The same is true in enjoying the unexpected adventures in the great novel. Turchi's insight into natural human motivation to seek a clearing of the veil of uncertainty left me thinking down a whole other set of rabbit holes.

This book is a box of chocolates.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book for Writers and Map Lovers, April 6, 2006

By 

K. S. Karshna (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer (Hardcover)

This book defies genre. It is an examination of the correlation between writers and map-makers. If you love maps, and want to incorporate some of that passion into your writing, this is the book for you. I find myself coming back to it frequently, like a reference book on how to write the sort of story I'd like to read.

Especially interesting is the portion of the book devoted to the empty spaces on maps.

I can't resist Turchi's wonderful phrases, such as:

"...a blank on a map becomes a symbol of rigorous standards; the presence of absences lent authority to all on the map that was unblank."

Brilliant.

It will take you on a journey. And the book is lovely to look at and hold.