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Reged: Feb 16 2004
Posts: 1056
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This thread is for comments and feedback about The Reader and the Map, by Johan Jonsson.
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A.R.Yngve
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Hypothesis 1: The Urban Reader
Most fantasy readers don't get out in the wilderness that much. They prefer to live in cities. So they lack the hands-on experience of wild nature that would help them visualize an imaginary landscape.
Thus, the fantasy maps act as compensation for the readers' lack of wilderness experience.
Hypothesis 2: The Inept Writer
Most fantasy *writers* cannot describe wilderness that well. They lack the experience AND competence that might help them visualize an imaginary landscape.
Thus, the fantasy-book maps act as compensation for the writers' lack of visualizing skill.
Of course, this is just wild speculation... ;)
-A.R.Yngve
http://yngve.bravehost.com
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Johan
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My guess is that it is mainly a conditioned expectation: they don't want the map because they need it, but because they have gotten used to maps in fantasy literature. I would guess that this negative reaction to the absence of a map is mainly to be found among (younger) fantasy readers who read enough to identify themselves as fantasy readers, but not much more than that.
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D.Ausema
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An interesting essay. I do have to stick up for the maps though. In reading, my preferences are more along the lines of the innovators, those who steer as far from cliche as possible (or who have the ability to take what would be cliche and turn it on its head)...but I love maps. When I sit down to plan a new book, one of the first things I do is design the map just for myself. But then this raises the question, do I really want that map (or a better version of it anyway) to appear in my book if and when it gets published? Those writers I'd rather be associated with are the ones less likely to display their maps in their books...
Yet, I find a map so evocative. I love just looking at a map and trying to imagine what life would be like for someone who lived here, or there, beside these mountains, or along this street. I'd love to see a map of Ambergris and the surrounding land. Or New Crobuzon and Bas-Lang. But I love real-world maps, so it could just be me.
If it felt like an author was using the map as a crutch, that would annoy me. But honestly, I've seldom felt that. More annoying are the maps that are clearly done solely of the elements within the book--maps where you say, 'Oh look, there's a forest over here. The characters must go to that forest at some point.' Maps that have exactly the cities involved and no others. A good map is part of the immersion in a well-crafted story.
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I don't think authors use the map as a crutch. They're probably just as stuck with the conventions as everyone else.
Very interesting essay. Clearly one of the most interesting at Strange Horizons so far this year.
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David Moles
Regular reader
Reged: Jan 07 2004
Posts: 65
Loc: Basel, Switzerland
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I am also a follower of the generalizing and prejudiced opinion that fantasy without maps is simply better, maybe because mapless fantasy tends to be more original, maybe because fantasy with maps is of a kind that appeals less to me.
I think you're confusing correlation with causality here. Adding maps to, say, a Kelly Link collection wouldn't diminish the quality of the stories, any more than adding drinking games and a reading guide diminished Alan DeNiro's Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead.
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-- David
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Johan
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Of course not. Perhaps I should have written "tend to be" instead of "are".
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DavidBrennan
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Reged: Jul 22 2006
Posts: 1
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A clear majority of readers who answered the questions saw the map as a good complement to the text, adding to the realism of the story and lending authenticity to the fictive world. These readers thought it pointed to professionalism and thoroughness.
I think that this is the crux of the matter. Having a map simply makes the story seem more professional and grand, regardless of whether or not that's really the case. It's like having a big-name actor in a movie. It certainly doesn't mean that the movie is better, but the odds are that the movie will have better production values than something which was done wholly on the cheap.
And the biggest factor, I think, is the simple fact that the maps are almost always elective for the readers. You can choose to use them for a quick conceptualization of the environment, or choose to ignore them and either do the mapping in your head or simply focus on the characters and action.
I have to note here that I'm not a fantasy fan, though, but science fiction.
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Carl
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I really thought this was an interesting essay, but it was a bit messy.
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