Understanding Maps after Multimodal Literature: A New Taxonomy

Abstract

The article examines literature’s multifaceted engagement with maps, focusing on twenty-first century Anglophone fiction. Within the framework of multimodality, collective map-based works such as Where You Are and novels such as Bats of the Republic highlight the uncharted potential maps hold for contemporary writing as well as bring to the fore significant, but undertheorized intersections between cartography and literature. Offering a reconsideration of existing taxonomies in light of the rise of multimodal literary texts, the article invites interdisciplinary perspectives that can shed light on the diverse engagements with maps in current and future literary works.