The Cartographic Imagination in Early Modern England Re-writing the World in Marlowe, Spenser, Raleigh and Marvell

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Synopsis

Working from a cultural studies perspective, author D. K. Smith here examines a broad range of medieval and Renaissance maps and literary texts to explore the effects of geography on Tudor-Stuart cultural perceptions. He argues that the literary representation of cartographically-related material from the late fifteenth to the early seventeenth century demonstrates a new strain, not just of geographical understanding, but of cartographic manipulation, which he terms, "the cartographic imagination." Rather than considering the effects of maps themselves on early modern epistemologies, Smith considers the effects of the activity of mapping-the new techniques, the new expectations of accuracy and precision which developed in the sixteenth century-on the ways people thought and wrote. Looking at works by Spenser, Marlowe, Raleigh, and Marvell among other authors, he analyzes how the growing ability to represent physical space accurately brought with it not just a wealth of new maps, but a new array of rhetorical techniques, metaphors, and associations which allowed the manipulation of texts and ideas in ways never before possible.

Book details

Author:
D.K. Smith
ISBN:
9781317039334
Related ISBNs:
9781138259393, 9780754656203, 9781315614335
Publisher:
Taylor and Francis
Pages:
214
Reading age:
Not specified
Includes images:
Yes
Date of addition:
2022-12-20
Usage restrictions:
Copyright
Copyright date:
2008
Copyright by:
D. K. Smith 
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Categories:
Language Arts, Literature and Fiction