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Here be dragons : exploring fantasy maps and settings / Stefan Ekman.

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: Middletown, CT : Wesleyan University Press, c2013.Description: viii, 284 p. : ill., maps ; 25 cmISBN:
  • 0819573221 (cloth : alk. paper)
  • 081957323X (pbk. : alk. paper)
  • 0819573248 (ebook)
  • 9780819573223 (cloth : alk. paper)
  • 9780819573230 (pbk. : alk. paper)
  • 9780819573247 (ebook)
Subject(s):
Contents:
Introduction. The relevance of setting ; What is fantasy? ; Outline of the following chapters. -- Maps. Previous explorations of fantasy maps ; What is a fantasy map? ; How to find your way: a survey of fantasy maps ; The Prevalence of Maps ; General Map Features: Subject, Orientation, Surround Elements ; Types of Map Elements ; Hill Signs ; Hidden in plain sight: reading fantasy maps ; Reading "A Part of the Shire" ; Reading "The West of Middle-earth" ; Concluding Reflections. -- Borders and boundaries. Borders: holding together by keeping apart ; A Final Injustice: The Dragaeran Paths of the Dead ; Protection from a Hostile World: Faerie and Wall in Stardust ; Apart and Together: Ancelstierre and the Old Kingdom ; The Threshold with a Thousand Guises ; Polders: keeping things as they are ; Damming the Tides of Time: Tolkien's Lothlórien ; The Forest of Twisting Paths: Holdstock's Mythago Wood ; Time and Time Again: Pratchet's Djelibeybi ; Turning Geography into History ; Concluding reflections. -- Nature and culture. Nature and culture: Some slippery terms ; The return of the tree: bringing nature back into Minas Tirith ; Nature, magic, and misfits: Wilderness within Newford ; Blurred boundaries: conflux in new crobuzon ; Growing somewhere in-between: liminal nature in ombria ; Concluding reflections. -- Realms and rulers. Linking rulers to reams: an overview ; Ruling the mythical landscape: the fisher king in last call ; Shaping the realm: palimpsests in tourists ; Landscapes of evil: Where the dark lords live ; "Such starved ignoble nature": Portrayals of Evil Lands ; Mordor ; The Spoiled Plains and Ridjeck Thome ; The Blight ; Evil Landscapes: The Personal Touch ; Concluding reflections. -- Some final thoughts.
Summary: "Fantasy worlds are never mere backdrops. They are an integral part of the work, and refuse to remain separate from other elements. These worlds combine landscape with narrative logic by incorporating alternative rules about cause and effect or physical transformation. They become actors in the drama--interacting with the characters, offering assistance or hindrance, and making ethical demands. In Here Be Dragons, Stefan Ekman provides a wide-ranging survey of the ubiquitous fantasy map as the point of departure for an in-depth discussion of what such maps can tell us about what is important in the fictional worlds and the stories that take place there. With particular focus on J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Ekman shows how fantasy settings deserve serious attention from both readers and critics. Includes insightful readings of works by Steven Brust, Garth Nix, Robert Holdstock, Terry Pratchett, Charles de Lint, China Miéville, Patricia McKillip, Tim Powers, Lisa Goldstein, Steven R. Donaldson, Robert Jordan, and Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess."--Publisher's website.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 809.3876 E36 Available 33111007479278
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Fantasy worlds are never mere backdrops. They are an integral part of the work, and refuse to remain separate from other elements. These worlds combine landscape with narrative logic by incorporating alternative rules about cause and effect or physical transformation. They become actors in the drama-interacting with the characters, offering assistance or hindrance, and making ethical demands. In Here Be Dragons, Stefan Ekman provides a wide-ranging survey of the ubiquitous fantasy map as the point of departure for an in-depth discussion of what such maps can tell us about what is important in the fictional worlds and the stories that take place there. With particular focus on J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Ekman shows how fantasy settings deserve serious attention from both readers and critics. Includes insightful readings of works by Steven Brust, Garth Nix, Robert Holdstock, Terry Pratchett, Charles de Lint, China Miéville, Patricia McKillip, Tim Powers, Lisa Goldstein, Steven R. Donaldson, Robert Jordan, and Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction. The relevance of setting ; What is fantasy? ; Outline of the following chapters. -- Maps. Previous explorations of fantasy maps ; What is a fantasy map? ; How to find your way: a survey of fantasy maps ; The Prevalence of Maps ; General Map Features: Subject, Orientation, Surround Elements ; Types of Map Elements ; Hill Signs ; Hidden in plain sight: reading fantasy maps ; Reading "A Part of the Shire" ; Reading "The West of Middle-earth" ; Concluding Reflections. -- Borders and boundaries. Borders: holding together by keeping apart ; A Final Injustice: The Dragaeran Paths of the Dead ; Protection from a Hostile World: Faerie and Wall in Stardust ; Apart and Together: Ancelstierre and the Old Kingdom ; The Threshold with a Thousand Guises ; Polders: keeping things as they are ; Damming the Tides of Time: Tolkien's Lothlórien ; The Forest of Twisting Paths: Holdstock's Mythago Wood ; Time and Time Again: Pratchet's Djelibeybi ; Turning Geography into History ; Concluding reflections. -- Nature and culture. Nature and culture: Some slippery terms ; The return of the tree: bringing nature back into Minas Tirith ; Nature, magic, and misfits: Wilderness within Newford ; Blurred boundaries: conflux in new crobuzon ; Growing somewhere in-between: liminal nature in ombria ; Concluding reflections. -- Realms and rulers. Linking rulers to reams: an overview ; Ruling the mythical landscape: the fisher king in last call ; Shaping the realm: palimpsests in tourists ; Landscapes of evil: Where the dark lords live ; "Such starved ignoble nature": Portrayals of Evil Lands ; Mordor ; The Spoiled Plains and Ridjeck Thome ; The Blight ; Evil Landscapes: The Personal Touch ; Concluding reflections. -- Some final thoughts.

"Fantasy worlds are never mere backdrops. They are an integral part of the work, and refuse to remain separate from other elements. These worlds combine landscape with narrative logic by incorporating alternative rules about cause and effect or physical transformation. They become actors in the drama--interacting with the characters, offering assistance or hindrance, and making ethical demands. In Here Be Dragons, Stefan Ekman provides a wide-ranging survey of the ubiquitous fantasy map as the point of departure for an in-depth discussion of what such maps can tell us about what is important in the fictional worlds and the stories that take place there. With particular focus on J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Ekman shows how fantasy settings deserve serious attention from both readers and critics. Includes insightful readings of works by Steven Brust, Garth Nix, Robert Holdstock, Terry Pratchett, Charles de Lint, China Miéville, Patricia McKillip, Tim Powers, Lisa Goldstein, Steven R. Donaldson, Robert Jordan, and Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess."--Publisher's website.

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