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Those maps at the beginning of books, or, a few words about teaching « the jsomers.net blog

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If you're out to understand a story that's really located, as in deeply bound to a particular place, you would do well to have at least a murky mental picture of nearby landmarks, both natural and manmade. For books like Joyce's Ulysses, where the action so often hinges on spatial minutiae -- like which side of the street Bloom's on -- you probably need something more vivid, and of course more accurate. Now some authors (or more likely, their publishers) will occasionally offer a partial solution to this problem by providing an aerial map of the region. But this rarely turns out to be helpful, if it's ever even read. The problem is not that these are bad maps, like that they omit salient details or leave too little to the imagination. It's just that they're in the wrong part of the book. Almost always, they're buried in what book-people call the "front matter": the edition notice, title page, dedication, table of contents, preface, foreword, prologue, introduction, etc. Even if you rea

Those maps at the beginning of books, or, a few words about teaching << the jsomers.net blog the jsomers.net blog. About Subscribe Read More Contact me Those maps at the beginning of books, or, a few words about teaching by James Somers , March 7, 2009 If you're out to understand a story that's really located , as in deeply bound to a particular place, you would do well to have at least a murky mental picture of nearby landmarks, both natural and manmade. For books like Joyce's Ulysses , where the action so often hinges on spatial minutiae -- like which side of the street Bloom's on -- you pro

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