Novel geography
October 6, 2015 5:38 PM   Subscribe

The Map of Literature. Martin Vargic, creator of the Map of the Internet 1.0, has created an insanely detailed "National Geographic" map of Literature, where "Jurassic Park is located between 1984 and Clear and Present Danger on the continent of Thrillers, a stone's throw away from H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds."

Want more? Look for his forthcoming book: Vargic's Miscellany of Curious Maps: Mapping the Modern World.
posted by storybored (6 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
Very reminiscent of the Map of Humanity.
posted by Rhaomi at 5:52 PM on October 6, 2015


Pretty. But Randall Munroe will always be the man who mapped the Internet (not to mention online communities) in my heart.

(It's funny to see MySpace dwarfing Facebook in 2007.)
posted by rokusan at 6:56 PM on October 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


Pretty, but odd placements of names. Ezra Pound perched on the other side of the island to TS Eliot and HD, whilst Eliot is nestled next to Langston Hughes? Brave New World on the border between Thrillers and SF (on the SF side, relax) about a mile from Clear & Present Danger?

My inner lit grad has thoughts.
posted by kariebookish at 2:34 AM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


Cool idea, but it seems like it's specifically designed to hang in the English Department faculty lounge and provoke fights stimulate discussion.
posted by wenestvedt at 5:35 AM on October 7, 2015


(Might be handy hanging in a book store, though.)
posted by wenestvedt at 5:35 AM on October 7, 2015


Nabokov is alone on an island with Erskine Caldwell? I'm sorry, I don't see the point of this. I don't even think a map is a particularly useful way to think about literature. I mean, if others find it stimulating, that's great, but it looks to me like somebody just thought "Hey, a map of writers and books, cool idea" and dashed one off.
posted by languagehat at 8:11 AM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


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