ABSTRACT
Literary scholars since the 1980s have embraced the cartographic and the spatial as critical categories. The metaphorical use of mapping as a category of analysis has also been popular in literary and cultural studies. Yet actual maps – that is, graphic representations of space and spatial relationships – are still underserved by literary criticism, and surprisingly so in the field of travel literature. The chapter attempts to address this gap, offering interpretive strategies exploring the relationship between maps, narration, and navigation, in itineraries, exploratory accounts, fictional travel literature, guidebooks, and travelogues.
