The Self-Made Map ─ Cartographic Writing in Early Modern France

This is a paperbound reprint of a work first published in 1996. Conley (Romance languages and literatures, visual and environmental studies, Harvard U.) brings an interdisciplinary approach to this study, which draws on his research in early modern French literature, the history of cartography, and readings in psychoanalysis. Observing that "the arts of the Renaissance are due to various and always mobile articulations of space" and that "[i]n that age, as it seems in no other, writings are spatially conceived," he explains the basis of his study, essentially looking at how writing is mapped and how it maps--both the interior and exterior world. The study traverses the realms of art, geographical discoveries, history, literature, printing processes, and political awareness. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)