The Atlas of Literature, M. Bradbury, editor (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1998)****

 

I bought this book for myself a few Christmases ago, figuring it would make a nice reference but suspicious of its coffee-table appearance.  You know the type--oversized with a heavily illustrated front cover and heavy, glossy pages with lots of photographs.  Unfortunately, that’s what I allowed it to be until just recently when I sat down and began to read it—and ended up reading it from cover to cover.  I’m not the type to sit down and read reference books straight through, but this is no ordinary reference book, even though it might serve as one.  To my delight, I found myself learning a great deal of world history and geography while at the same time learning about the lives and times of  our planets poets and novelists.  It’s a well written book, always interesting, sometimes entertaining, as well as informative--which is all I had initially expected from it. 

 

It’s nice when learning is also enjoyable, and that’s one reason I’d recommend this book.  The other reason is that this book could add immeasurably to the pleasure of traveling.  Imagine how much more you experience when visiting the Grand Canyon if you happen to know beforehand even an inkling of geology.  Wouldn’t it be nice to visit Paris or London or Dublin if part of your itinerary were to visit the haunts and environs of the many great writers and poets who lived and wrote there in previous generations.  The scope is much broader than you’d expect, however.  There are chapters on writers and their places from Australia to South Africa and South America, from the near East to the far East.  Although the scope of this atlas includes most of our planet, the organization of the book is primarily historical, beginning with the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and moving up to the World Today. 

 

There are many short, illustrated chapters in each time period.  For example, under the section The Modern World, you’ll find chapters on Kafka’s Prague, Joyce’s Dublin, Writers of the Great War, Paris in the Twenties,  Greenwich Village, Main Street USA, Writers’ Hollywood,  Depression America, among numerous others.  There’s an excellent index, brief biographies of the major writers and their works, and a detailed section on place to visit when you travel.  If you like to read, enjoy history or like to travel, you’ll find this book to be a keeper in your home library.