Critical cartography in contemporary American fiction and art

Geoffrey Stacks, Purdue University

Abstract

Near the end of the twentieth century, there seemed to be a renewed interested in cartography in art and literature. This study looks closely at three key texts: Thomas Pynchon's Mason & Dixon, Leslie Marmon Silko's Almanac of the Dead, and Linda Hogan's Solar Storms. These novels, as well as other works (art by Kathy Prendergast, writings by Gloria Anzaldúa, short stories by Andrea Barrett, and poetry by Eavan Boland and Lucia Perillo), constitute literary and artistic acts of critical cartography. Informed by the ideas of J.B. Harley, critical cartography is defined as a move toward reading maps as texts instead of transparent views of the world. If, as Harley says, cartography is too important to be left to the cartographers, then examining maps critically will uncover the ideological implications of map making. Through a careful reading of Pynchon and Silko and Hogan, this study demonstrates how cartography is not only of interest to recent theory and art and literature but can be constitutive of nationalism, ethnic identity, and gendered subjectivity.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Peterson, Purdue University.

Subject Area

American literature

COinS