Remapping Fictional Worlds: A Comparative Reconstruction of Fictional Maps

ABSTRACT

This article presents a quantitative analysis of fictional maps and their relation to historic maps from different periods. Fictional maps are maps of imaginary territories. This type of map is now common in fiction, but they arose relatively late, in the second half of the nineteenth century, and are considered an independent branch of cartography today. They stand out through the way they are published because they are component parts of books and not independent cartographic works, and therefore their creators are not cartographers but rather the authors of these books. Fictional maps are mostly subordinate to the story, but they serve to give a sense of historical authenticity and draw the reader into the story. Without networks of coordinates and with labels such as ‘the end of the world’, they are spatially indeterminate, but they establish a connection between the fictional landscape and its identity. This study deals with 89 fictional maps from recent children’s and young adult literature. First we present a historical overview of these works and fictional maps, and then a cartographic analysis of fictional maps. We examined seventy-seven books with fictional maps and evaluated the maps according to five groups of standard cartographic elements: natural elements, built elements, toponyms, mathematical elements, and explanatory elements. We discuss the differences between cartographic representation of fictional maps and historic maps, and build a cartographic model based on the frequency of cartographic elements to put fictional maps into historic and geographical contexts.

Keywords:

• Maps
• human geography
• geography of fiction
• history of cartography
• cartographic analysis

Acknowledgements

We thank the Editor of The Cartographic Journal and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive and helpful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on the contributor

Primož Gašperič received a doctoral degree from the University of Primorska in the field of geography, and holds a diploma degree in the field of social geography and history. His education allows him to focus on broad aspects of cartography, including history of cartography, old maps, cartographic elements, and history in general. He has led several group and individual researchers about history of cartography. His bibliography comprises of 100 units, of which he (co-)authored two scientific monographs and seven original and review scientific papers. Primož serves as Head of the Geographical Museum and technical editor of the Geographic Horizon professional geographical journal published by the Association of Slovenian Geographers.

ORCID

Primož Gašperič http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6736-1308

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Geography of Slovenia Program [grant number P6-0101], funded by the Slovenian Research Agency.