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Chapter 10. Connecting worlds

Mapping space-time in three fictional islands
  • Maria Nikolajeva and Elizabeth Taylor
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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, based on a crossdisciplinary framework of cultural geography and children’s literature theory, discusses three children’s novels set on islands, all of which operate within ambiguous fictional worlds and use ambiguous narrative perspective. The issues of belonging/not belonging, time/space connections and interactions, mythical and contemporary world, nature/culture, displacement and spatial marginalisation are emphasised through the maps that are substantially more prominent than in most conventional children’s novels. Rather than an embellishment appearing outside the narrative they are in a subtle way incorporated into it, which also creates a fascinating tension between the visual map and its verbal ekphrasis.

Abstract

This chapter, based on a crossdisciplinary framework of cultural geography and children’s literature theory, discusses three children’s novels set on islands, all of which operate within ambiguous fictional worlds and use ambiguous narrative perspective. The issues of belonging/not belonging, time/space connections and interactions, mythical and contemporary world, nature/culture, displacement and spatial marginalisation are emphasised through the maps that are substantially more prominent than in most conventional children’s novels. Rather than an embellishment appearing outside the narrative they are in a subtle way incorporated into it, which also creates a fascinating tension between the visual map and its verbal ekphrasis.

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.7.11nik

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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