Mapmakers of Fantastical Fiction
Posted by David | Filed under Literature
“[Bilbo] loved maps, and in his hall there hung a large one of the Country Round with all his favourite walks marked on it in red ink.”
- excerpt from The Hobbit
Upon my bedroom walls hang three framed, fully-illustrated maps. Their ancient geographies exist only in the viewer’s imagination, and for that reason are deeply inspirational to me.
Though many authors sketch glimpses of their world from time to time, few illustrators fully realize those visions on canvas. I find this odd, because their very nature is to define the world within which great heros die so innocents may live. From J.R.R. Tolkien’s simple depiction of “here be dragons” to J.M. Barrie’s star-like Neverland, we learn more about their worlds in an instant than in the first hundred words of text.
With that in mind, I have begun a map of my own imagination… who knows, maybe I’ll find a story in there good enough to tell.
One Response to “Mapmakers of Fantastical Fiction”
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SonsMelody Says:
September 27th, 2003 at 1:15 amFind that story, dear sir. Tell it to all the world. I know you have it in you and believe you can do it. I eagerly await it’s birth, growth, and finally it’s introduction to the world.
