For today’s Friday Feature I wanted to share this gorgeous website, “A Brief History of Fantastic Maps, from Paleolithic Cave Drawings to the Futuristic Possibility of Immersive Geographies.” I have been curious about GIS utilities for reading fantasy literature, and Johnny Eaton has given us an admirable resource using the ArcGIS Story Maps tool by ESRI. There are interactive maps of some of the books we love, like the work that the Emil Johannson’s LOTR Project has done. Johnny Eaton’s work uses the LOTR Project, but puts in context with historical maps and then extends it out to other fictional universes, like Fairyland, Winnie-the-Pooh, and some contemporary film. You can find his interactive map here.
I believe in open access scholarship. Because of this, since 2011 I have made A Pilgrim in Narnia free with nearly 1,000 posts on faith, fiction, and fantasy. Please consider sharing my work so others can enjoy it.
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About Brenton Dickieson
“A Pilgrim in Narnia” is a blog project in reading and talking about the work of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, the Inklings, L.M. Montgomery, and the worlds they created. As a "Faith, Fantasy, and Fiction" blog, we cover topics like children’s literature, myths and mythology, fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction, poetry, theology, cultural criticism, art and writing.
This blog includes my thoughts as I read through my favourite writings and reflect on my own life and culture. In this sense, I am a Pilgrim in Narnia--or Middle Earth, or Fairyland, or Avonlea. I am often peeking inside of wardrobes, looking for magic bricks in urban alleys, or rooting through yard sale boxes for old rings. If something here captures your imagination, leave a comment, “like” a post, share with your friends, or sign up to receive Narnian Pilgrim posts in your email box.
Brenton Dickieson (PhD, Chester) is a father, husband, friend, university lecturer, and freelance writer from Prince Edward Island, Canada. You can follow him:
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Thanks for this and the links. I have always loved maps, fantastic or the more mundane. And when I get a book with maps in it, I study the map to help the story come to life.
Yes, me too. I cherish them.
Thanks for the links! Maps are such an integral part of fantasy writing – a fantastic way of allowing the reader to roam through the imaginary world. When I was growing up I had the Pauline Baynes Narnia map on my bedroom wall, along with her Middle Earth and Hobbit maps, and they really were integral with the reading experience of both Lewis and Tolkien.
The same map is in Nicolas’ room. And Middle-earth on his door. I love, love maps.
What a fascinating site! Thank you so much for sharing.
Thanks!
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Wow, that is fascinating! Thank you!
Even when not provided visually, maps are often important features of historical fiction, which leaves me wanting to know more about the history of ancient and medieval maps – and how accurate or anachronistic such fictional uses are likely to be in a given instance (however lazy I am about following this up!). I do dearly love the Madaba Mosaic Map…
Hi! I only found this now, but thank you for featuring my story map on here. 🙂
Well, it has been a minute! Thanks for saying hello.