Even writers who create artful fictional landscapes sometimes need directions. So much is clear in “Mapping fiction, ”A new exhibit at the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens in California that explores how writers and cartographers have mapped amazing worlds both as and in contrast to our own.
The show coincides with the centenary of James Joyce’s opus, Ulysses, and admittedly several relics related to the book – including a first edition, a typewritten draft of one of its chapters, and various gravures of Dublin as described by the author – are on display.
But it was not only the anniversary of Joyce’s novel that inspired the show, explained Karla Nielsen, Huntington’s curator of literary collections, who organized the effort.
“Joyce absolutely would not Ulysses published with a form, a map of Dublin, any kind of explanation really, ”Nielsen said in one announcement. “His resistance made me think about how cards work when inserted into a printed novel. How do they affect how readers imagine the narrative?”
Octavia E. Butler, Map of Acorn from Notes to the Parable of the Talents (ca. 1994). © Octavia E. Butler. Lent by Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens.
About 70 objects collected from the museum’s collection provide viewers with an answer to the curator’s request. Highlights include detailed maps that accompanied early editions of the JRR Tolkien Lord of the Rings trilogy, Robert Louis Stevensons Skatteø and Kidnappedand George RR Martin’s A Game of Thrones. Meanwhile, Octavia E. Butler’s hand-drawn – and unpublished – diagrams of her own imagined landscapes provide an insight into her writing processes. The parable of the talents and Parable of the trickster (which was never published).
There are plenty of treats for rare book fans, such as early editions of Miguel de Cervantes’s The ingenious gentleman Don Quixote from La Mancha (The ingenious gentleman Don Quixote from La Mancha), Jonathan Swifts Gulliver’s travels, and Jules Vernes Around the world in 80 days. The latter is presented alongside a vintage board game inspired by Nellie Bly, a journalist who even toured the world after the publication of Verne’s novel. (It only took her 72 days).
See more pictures from “Mapping Fiction” below.
Map from front pages to Homers Odyssey (1935). © Oxford University Press, Inc. Lent by Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens.
DW Kellogg & Co., The open land of a woman’s heart (1833-42). © Nancy and Henry Rosin Collection. Lent by Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens.
Map from Ludvig Holbergs Nicolai Klimii iter svbterranevm (1741). © Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens.
In medias res (2006). © David Lilburn, 2021. Lent by The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens. “Width =” 1024 “height =” 685 “srcset =” https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2022/ 01 / 7.-Lilburn-The-Quays-2006-1024×685.jpg 1024w, https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2022/01/7.-Lilburn-The-Quays-2006-300×201 .jpg 300w, https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2022/01/7.-Lilburn-The-Quays-2006-50×33.jpg 50w “sizes =” (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px “/>
David Lilburn, “The Quays” from In media res (2006). © David Lilburn, 2021. Lent by The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens.
A map from Robert Louis Stevensons Skatteø (1883). Lent by Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens.
McLoughlin Bros., “Around the World with Nellie Lead” (1890). Lent by Jay T. Last and The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens.
“Mapping fiction”Can be viewed through May 2 at the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California.
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