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Chapter 11. Mapping illusions

Between the child’s fantasy world of Lev Kassil’s Sсhwambrania and the geography of a fledgling Soviet state
  • Olga Mikhaylova
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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 artistic functions of the visual and verbal depiction of a child’s fantasy country in Lev Kassil’s novel Sсhwambrania (1933) against the background of the state’s interest in geography and cartography. After a short overview of the political circumstances that accompanied the reforms in Soviet cartography, this chapter applies Harley’s approach to the interpretation of the two maps of the child’s fantasy world of Sсhwambrania, considering the graphic and linguistic components of these maps and their description in the text, and, in addition, reconstructing the different types of context relevant to Kassil’s book.

Abstract

This chapter examines the artistic functions of the visual and verbal depiction of a child’s fantasy country in Lev Kassil’s novel Sсhwambrania (1933) against the background of the state’s interest in geography and cartography. After a short overview of the political circumstances that accompanied the reforms in Soviet cartography, this chapter applies Harley’s approach to the interpretation of the two maps of the child’s fantasy world of Sсhwambrania, considering the graphic and linguistic components of these maps and their description in the text, and, in addition, reconstructing the different types of context relevant to Kassil’s book.

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.7.12mik

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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