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Chapter 9. “An island made of water quite surrounded by earth”

Mapping out the seascape in nonsense literature
  • Olga Holownia
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Maps and Mapping in Children's Literature
This chapter is in the book Maps and Mapping in Children's Literature

Abstract

This chapter examines the ways in which geography functions in nonsense verse, prose and illustration, and more specifically, in the representations of seascapes. The key purpose of maps, toponyms and topothesia, which conventionally help the readers envision and navigate a fictitious world, tends not to be fulfilled in literary nonsense, even when maps or detailed descriptions are provided. Focusing on the genre-defining nineteenth-century works and their twentieth-century visual re-interpretations, this chapter outlines selected common features of nonsense geography and shows how the nonsense game has since been followed in our own time, using a popular example drawn from contemporary literature.

Abstract

This chapter examines the ways in which geography functions in nonsense verse, prose and illustration, and more specifically, in the representations of seascapes. The key purpose of maps, toponyms and topothesia, which conventionally help the readers envision and navigate a fictitious world, tends not to be fulfilled in literary nonsense, even when maps or detailed descriptions are provided. Focusing on the genre-defining nineteenth-century works and their twentieth-century visual re-interpretations, this chapter outlines selected common features of nonsense geography and shows how the nonsense game has since been followed in our own time, using a popular example drawn from contemporary literature.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Table of figures vii
  4. Introduction. Maps and mapping in children’s literature 1
  5. Part 1. About mapping
  6. Chapter 1. A cognitive-developmental perspective on maps in children’s literature 17
  7. Chapter 2. Mapping the new citizen – Pedagogy of cartophobia 41
  8. Chapter 3. A subtle cartography 59
  9. Chapter 4. Metaphorical maps in picturebooks 75
  10. Part 2. Literary shaping of real cityscapes
  11. Chapter 5. Mapping a city – Berlin in a contemporary detective novel 95
  12. Chapter 6. “New York just like I pictured it – skyscrapers and everything”* 113
  13. Chapter 7. Itineraries and maps 129
  14. Chapter 8. Bruno Munari’s visual mapping of the city of Milan 147
  15. Part 3. Fictional seascapes and landscapes
  16. Chapter 9. “An island made of water quite surrounded by earth” 167
  17. Chapter 10. Connecting worlds 185
  18. Chapter 11. Mapping illusions 203
  19. Chapter 12. Mapping Middle Earth 221
  20. Chapter 13. Landscapes of growth, faith, and doubt 239
  21. About the editors and contributors 257
  22. Name index 263
  23. Subject index 265
https://doi.org/10.1075/clcc.7.10hol

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Table of figures vii
  4. Introduction. Maps and mapping in children’s literature 1
  5. Part 1. About mapping
  6. Chapter 1. A cognitive-developmental perspective on maps in children’s literature 17
  7. Chapter 2. Mapping the new citizen – Pedagogy of cartophobia 41
  8. Chapter 3. A subtle cartography 59
  9. Chapter 4. Metaphorical maps in picturebooks 75
  10. Part 2. Literary shaping of real cityscapes
  11. Chapter 5. Mapping a city – Berlin in a contemporary detective novel 95
  12. Chapter 6. “New York just like I pictured it – skyscrapers and everything”* 113
  13. Chapter 7. Itineraries and maps 129
  14. Chapter 8. Bruno Munari’s visual mapping of the city of Milan 147
  15. Part 3. Fictional seascapes and landscapes
  16. Chapter 9. “An island made of water quite surrounded by earth” 167
  17. Chapter 10. Connecting worlds 185
  18. Chapter 11. Mapping illusions 203
  19. Chapter 12. Mapping Middle Earth 221
  20. Chapter 13. Landscapes of growth, faith, and doubt 239
  21. About the editors and contributors 257
  22. Name index 263
  23. Subject index 265
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