1. Geography Matters…

2. Is It Easy To Say ‘Where’?
Where story takes place = Big deal!
William Faulkner
Fictional Yoknapatawpha repeated
Thomas Hardy
Mythical Wessex repeated

3. Yoknapatawpha
As I Lay Dying

4. Wessex
Under the Greenwood Tree

5. Why Is ‘Where’ Important?
Only one place fits = characters could not say or do same thing
Such as:
The Old Man and the Sea  Only in Caribbean/ Cuba
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn  Only on Mississippi River

6. So What’s Geography Then?
Rivers, hills, valleys, glaciers, swamps, mountains, prairies, seas, islands, etc.
Such as:
Napoleon conquering Russia  Terrain and weather

7. But Wait, That’s Not All! Psychology, attitude, finance, industry
Theme, symbolism, plot
Such as:
“The Fall of the House of Usher”  Really sets readers emotions into action

8. Geography and Characters
Define or develop
Not just social, but from land
Such as:
Bean Trees  Main character changes name and leaves town to become a new person (closed to open environment)

9. Geography AS THE character
Major hurdle to overcome
Such as:
Going After Cacciato  American soldiers do not understand land/ dangers in alien environment in Vietnam (land becomes enemy)

10. Geography and Plot
When writers send characters south, it’s so they can run amok
Direct, raw encounters with subconscious
Such as:
Heart of Darkness  Marlow discovers darkness in own heart
A Room with a View  Lucy sheds racial stiffness, falls in love, struggles with what she “knows” and what she feels

11. The Type of Place Specific to broader
Understand geography to understand text
Such as:
“In Praise of Prairie”  understand experience/ imagination of author

12. Underlying Meanings; It Matters!
Authors pick this carefully on purpose
Low: Swamps, crowds, fog, darkness, heat, unpleasant, life, death, etc.
High: Snow, ice, purity, life, death, isolation, clarity, etc.
Such as:
“The Snows of Kilimanjaro”  Leopard death on mountain top : clean, cold, pure vs. Mans death on plain: ugly, unpleasant, horrible

13. So…Geography, huh? Geography is all detail It’s done on purpose
It’s important and adds to the meaning of the piece