ABSTRACT
Literary geography is a relatively recent branch of cultural geography. Literature as a resource for geographic analysis has a strong base in India, but formerly only the “objective” use of creative writings was made to reconstruct geographic environments in historical context. It was only since the 1970s that the “subjective” use of creative writings has received attention in Indian geography to project the experiential feelings of place and people (see Dhussa 1992). If geography is to be defined as “the study of the earth as home of mankind,” literature would prove to be a very rich resource (primary or secondary) to highlight landscape and environmental ethics (earth), built space and emotional bond (home) and culture, society and values (mankind). With its integrated triad of people, plot and place, literature provides a substantial base to reconstruct places, to decipher the images and to understand the socio-cultural order in terms of historicity (Herbert 1991:194).
