ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how literary writers have interacted with maps and mapping practices in their works. Instead of focusing on fictional maps of imaginary spaces, this chapter is interested in the actual cartographic documents that writers have used, read and annotated as they were writing. Now is an exciting time to read these interactions in a new light. Recent critical and theoretical insights allow us to think more productively and more creatively about the role played by maps in the writing process. This chapter examines a series of examples from U.S. literary history to unpack some of the effects produced by the interaction with maps: a sense of anchoring, a playful use of the map’s authority, and a redefinition of navigation and visibility.
