Literary Landscapes: Charting the Worlds of Classic Literature by John Sutherland

Literary Landscapes: Charting the Worlds of Classic Literature Reviews

• 
  Jo (The Book Geek)

  I received this beautifully presented book as a gift last year, and I had been very much looking forward to reading this. The sense of place in a book is immensely important, and really, it can make or break a book quite easily. Authors are able to magically bring a place to life, and make you feel as if you a really there, living that life along with the characters.
  
  Each essay introduces a work of fiction, which has some interesting information about the author, and obviously, the place in which the novel is set. There are also some gorgeous illustrations, which I think made a valuable contribution to the book.
  
  Be on watch with this book, as it ultimately contains many spoilers about the literary works, but for me, it only encouraged me to add more books to my never-ending to read list.
  
  Unfortunately, I do feel like this book wasn't edited, or if it was, it wasn't to a high standard. The typos were rather evident in this, and I find that a shame, as otherwise, it is a beautiful presented book.
  
• 
  Diane Challenor

  This excellent journey through the literary landscape is filled with well written essays, edited by the academic John Sutherland. I’ve had this book on my shelves since it was published in 2018, and rediscovered it recently on my shelves. I think each essay is a treasure, written by some well known writers, and some not so well known. Each essay surprisingly doesn’t have a by-line, so a reader has to go hunting for the contributors’ list at the back of the book. The book is heavily illustrated with fantastic historical images, although the quality of the images is a bit disappointing, however if it had been printed on high quality photo paper it would have been extremely heavy so I’m thinking it was a compromise when the book’s design was being considered. This is a book that could be read cover to cover, or dipped into over the years, which is the way I’ve read it. Rediscovering it recently has been a real treat, and reading through the list of contributors revealed some of my favourite writers had written a piece for this publication.
• 
  Rebecca

  The sense of place can be a major factor in a book’s success – did you know there is a whole literary prize devoted to just this? (The Royal Society of Literature’s Ondaatje Prize, “for a distinguished work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry, evoking the spirit of a place.”) No matter when or where a story is set, an author can bring it to life through authentic details that appeal to all the senses, making you feel like you’re on Prince Edward Island or in the Gaudarrama Mountains even if you’ve never visited Atlantic Canada or central Spain. The 75 essays of Literary Landscapes, a follow-up volume to 2016’s celebrated Literary Wonderlands, illuminate the real-life settings of fiction from Jane Austen’s time to today. Maps, author and cover images, period and modern photographs, and other full-color illustrations abound.
  
  Each essay serves as a compact introduction to a literary work, incorporating biographical information about the author, useful background and context on the book’s publication, and observations on the geographical location as it is presented in the story – often through a set of direct quotations. (Because each work is considered as a whole, you may come across spoilers, so keep that in mind before you set out to read an essay about a classic you haven’t read but still intend to.) The authors profiled range from Mark Twain to Yukio Mishima and from Willa Cather to Elena Ferrante. A few of the world’s great cities appear in multiple essays, though New York City as variously depicted by Edith Wharton, Jay McInerney and Francis Spufford is so different as to be almost unrecognizable as the same place.
  
  One of my favorite pieces is on Charles Dickens’s Bleak House. “Dickens was not interested in writing a literary tourist’s guide,” it explains; “He was using the city as a metaphor for how the human condition could, unattended, go wrong.” I also particularly enjoyed those on Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped. The fact that I used to live in Woking gave me a special appreciation for the essay on H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds, “a novel that takes the known landscape and, brilliantly, estranges it.” The two novels I’ve been most inspired to read are Thomas Wharton’s Icefields (1995; set in Jasper, Alberta) and Kate Grenville’s The Secret River (2005; set in New South Wales).
  
  The essays vary subtly in terms of length and depth, with some focusing on plot and themes and others thinking more about the author’s experiences and geographical referents. They were contributed by academics, writers and critics, some of whom were familiar names for me – including Nicholas Lezard, Robert Macfarlane, Laura Miller, Tim Parks and Adam Roberts. My main gripe about the book would be that the individual essays have no bylines, so to find out who wrote a certain one you have to flick to the back and skim through all the contributor biographies until you spot the book in question. There are also a few more typos than I tend to expect from a finished book from a traditional press (e.g. “Lady Deadlock” in the Bleak House essay!). Still, it is a beautifully produced, richly informative tome that should make it onto many a Christmas wish list this year; it would make an especially suitable gift for a young person heading off to study English at university. It’s one to have for reference and dip into when you want to be inspired to discover a new place via an armchair visit.
  
  Originally published, with images, on my blog,
  Bookish Beck.
• 
  Dna

  I wish I was familiar with more of the books that are featured in this volume, but it’s still a joy to read or even flip through if you don’t want to read all of the details. It is jam packed with gorgeous illustrations and photos and information about some of our most beloved novels. Super recommended for lovers of books who love books about books.
  
  Books!
• 
  Nicki Markus

  Literary Landscapes is a fun read for lovers of literature. I enjoyed the blend of text and image, and the interesting, brief discussions on the role of place in a number of key literary works. I did scratch my head from time to time, such as when the author claimed the opening of Bleak House was one of (if not the) most memorable openings in English literature. I personally can't imagine anyone quoting it as such, but I guess that's a subjective matter. Other opinions, too, seemed a tad farfetched. My main gripe with this book, though, was the appalling lack of editing and/or proofreading. Every few pages I came across another typo or a sentence with incorrect punctuation. Some of the typos were so obvious and bad it made me wonder if the manuscript had been proofread at all. It is a shame as it lets down a book otherwise nicely presented. As such, my rating for this one is 3.5, which I will round up to 4 stars in light of the work's entertaining quality.
• 
  Anna

  I'm someone who really appreciates a good setting in a book so I thought this might be a fun book to browse through. At first I only read the entries for the books I have read, but then continued to the books that I had on my TBR. I was enjoying it so much I ended up reading all 73 entries.This was a great book for spot reading and I added a few new titles to my TBR which was nice
• 
  Kelsi

  To be clear, I only read sections of this book that were based on books I've already read. My rating is based on those sections, not the entire work.
  
  Beautiful illustrations and a great in depth look at the worlds of familiar classics from Jane Austen to Emily Bronte, from Victor Hugo to Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I would recommend this work to anyone interested in learning more about the world of their favorite works of classic literature.
• 
  Richard Thomas

  It’s an absorbing and enjoyable account of the relationship between literature and place for some 70 or so books. The brief essays are learned but never heavy or dull. I have read a fair few of the books cited and I am attracted to reading a lot more based on the book. It’s a very good way of passing a few winter evenings.
• 
  Thebooktrail

  
  
  
  Literary Landscapes
  
  As soon as I saw this book, well, to say it sang to me is an understatement. Setting and place in a book and travelling to those locations for real is how The BookTrail first began. (even if I did tuck myself in wardrobes in search of Narnia or dig holes in search of the white rabbit before that, but that’s another story)
  
  There’s a lot to like about this book. The cover for one is stunning and inside, it’s even better. Great colour pictures and illustrations showcase the location of each book, whilst nice long text explains why and how such a setting was used and brought to life.
  
  It’s a coffee table and dip in and dip out kind of read. There’s so many places and books to travel with. Whether you want to revisit the Canada of Anne of Green Gables or delve into Charles Dickens’ London, it’s all there for exploring. And it's great fun to pick where you want to go next. Canadian Countryside to London town...and the stories which put these places on the map.
  
  Don’t think this is a literary step back in time either. There’s lots for fans of more recent fiction to pour over. Elena Ferrante. is of course there as an Italian stopover, and Kate Grenville’s The Secret River takes you all the way to New South Wales.
  
  There’s a lot of information on each stopover as I’m calling them. I was particularly excited to see Carlos Ruiz Zafón there!It was like meeting old friends and travelling with them which was a joy.
  
  Happily, there's lots of information about the author, ( well theirs are the eyes you’re seeing this new destination through after all ) and plenty of useful background about the book itself such as publication date and the context in which it was written.
  
  I could wax lyrical about this for ages to be honest. I’m like a child in a sweet shop. If there’s one negative about the book, I would have liked to know who was writing the essays in question. The book and locations are clear but the authors of the individual essays on the book are not. They lurk at the back of the book but I say, bring them on to the stage!
  
  I’ve already got this in mind for a few fellow travellers of a literary persuasion!
  
  
  
• 
  Linda Hill

  Travel the world vicariously through Literary Landscapes.
  
  This is a book that EVERY book lover must have in their life. I adored it. First I went through all the references to the authors I have read, beginning with Thomas Hardy whose writing launched my entire career. Next I read the sections with books based in places I’ve been to, like Natsushiko Kyogoku’s Tokyo, followed by places I have yet to see in real life but are on my wish list such as Joyce’s Dublin and I still had a wonderful tapestry of delights to dip in to after that. The only negative of reading Literary Landscapes I can find is that it can make the reader feel dissatisfied. I wanted to have read every book featured and to have visited every place described and because of the incredible number of entries in the four sections I know I’m never going to see them all. I will just have to indulge in the delights of the pages of Literary Landscapes instead!
  
  I thought the quality of the book was just wonderful. Pages are smooth under the hand, the book is weighty and the illustrations frequently sumptuous so that Literary Landscapes is a delight for art as well as literature lovers. The depth of knowledge, the incredible detail in each section and the cross referencing with contemporary sociology and history all contribute to making Literary Landscapes a real joy to read.
  
  Not only are the entries about literary landscapes, but they are themselves literary; stylishly penned, accessible and intelligent. There really is enough material in Literary Landscapes to keep a book lover entertained, happy and intrigued for several months. I cannot recommend this book highly enough – even if it has increased my TBR pile dramatically!
• 
  Christopher

  Wonderful series of essays on novels that have a significant sense of place--I've read many of them, but there are many others that are now on my to-read list. Enlivened by lots of photos, maps, and other illustrations, the book is marred by many typos or errors (sorry to be a nit-picker, but I wouldn't expect to see so many in book from a major publisher); some of the most obvious include an incorrect birth year for F. Scott Fitzgerald (1886 instead of 1896), an incorrect death year for Tarjei Vesaas (1870 instead of 1970), typos in characters' names (including Cuthburt instead of Cuthbert--sorry, 'Anne of Green Gables' fans), and so many more that coming across them became a distraction from a great way of looking at major novels of the last two centuries.
• 
  Nathan Albright

  This is a book that really hits home the fact that a lot of people write books that are full of ulterior meanings and ideological axes to grind.  Unfortunately, as I have found out, the people who write about the sense of place that one can often find in literature often do so from a point of view that includes the desire to spread some sort of illegitimate and immoral worldviews along with it.  It's not clear why this should be the case, but the authors included in this book are less interested in geography then they are in celebrating authors, especially those authors whose words are somehow unseemly.  Naturally, some geographies get mentioned over and over again--Lyme Regis is mentioned both for Jane Austen and for a more recent work, and there are of course many portrayals of New York City.  This is a book that could have been so much better--a lot of novels and series have a real strong sense of place that deserves to be celebrated, but the authors here are more interested in scoring points in cultural wars and in defending immoral and improper behavior than they are in rooting reading in a firm sense of place, and that is a great shame.
  
  This particular book is divided into four parts, after an introduction by the editor.  The first part of the book looks at romantic prospects, namely the romantic literature of the 19th and early 20th century, organized chronologically (as the geographies are based on the publishing date of the books), and these include classics like Austen's Persuasion, Dickens' Bleak House, Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, Hardy's Return Of The Native, Stevenson's Kidnapped, and Cather's O Pioneers!.  The second part of the book is where things start to go particularly awry with a look at modernists like D.H. Lawrence, (more happily) Sigrid Undset's Kristen Lavransdatter epic, Wharton's New York from The Age of Innocence, and a strangely tepid look at Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House On The Prairie.  Postwar classics include such works as Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, and Achebe's Things Fall Apart as well as Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago, as well as numerous other far more obscure works, and ones like Peyton Place that are not really classics either.  Finally, the book ends with some contemporary works that wallow in various sorts of sin and identity politics, ranging from gay tales of San Francisco to Maori whining, and Native American works, and even Pamuk's Kars from Snow.
  
  Overall, this is an immensely disappointing book.  Again, I expected this book to focus on the sense of place that rooted novels, and expected some ability on the part of the writers to examine the way that the same places are viewed differently by different authors who have created different works in different genres.  Instead, this book offers individual essays (liberally included with artwork of various kinds that is quite attractive) that focus on individual works, often looking at them from a point of view that seeks to use them for support for politicized fights over identity.  Ideally, a look at the landscape of literature and the effects of geographical context would be a rather conservative matter, but these authors are leftists activists and just can't leave well enough alone when it comes to politicizing everything they write about, which makes everything they write about a lot worse than it could be if they had any sense or any interest in staying on topic.  Alas, this book is not written by people who really want to focus on geography and a sense of place, but instead who see that as a means of attracting readers who are interested in their perspective and approach or who want to read more garbage literature that is labeled as classic.
• 
  Ainee Beland

  Literary Landscapes is divided into four sections; with chapter one to do with the Romantic Prospect frame; from the vistas of the rugged countryside to the grime of moody city streets, the novels of the nineteenth century began the intense engagement with natural surroundings, rooting psychology in setting. In these dramas of sociability, place figures not just as mere backdrop, but a defined character in the cast of interactions. In Chapter Two, we have Mapping of Modernism: as successive World Wars began to redefine the geographical boundaries of the familiar world, the modernist movement emulated the new chaos of experience. Chapter Three, we have the Postwar Panoramas: as the world was being rebuilt after the Second World War, hopeful new horizons were reflected in narratives that tracked the increasing popularity of the holiday, the spread of suburbia and the politics of postcolonial space. Chapter Four, this last frame being of Contemporary Geographies: from sinister sprawling metropolises to diverse emergent neighborhoods. The city in all its color and confusion is often the site of these contemporary grappling with the meaning of place, and with that we have question arising as to what extent do we shape our environment? And to what extent does our environment condition us?
  Literary Landscapes invites readers to follow and live in the footsteps of some favorite enduring fictional characters—as their stories are vividly brought to life, by evoking the sights and sounds, of their habitats. It is that the stories told are intrinsic, ethereal to their surroundings, the locale, scenery, and the landscape make the story and their characters come to life, so much so that you can’t think of the place without evoking its character—likable or not.
  Anyhow, for this post I want to discuss Lucy Maud Montgomery—Anne of Green Gables
  In Anne of Green Gables, place is character as well as the plot weaving the story on. –It is the story of a young orphan girl, who learns to find a place she could call home. Its characters share the place of their distinct Prince Edward Island village of Avonlea. Its temperament and texture is distinctly Canadian. A social world that is democratic yet deeply rooted like the brooks that streams throughout the communal land area. It is an island town—building a community and a family, out of people whose hearts, before, had not known how to be opened.
  ----------------------------------
  I must insist that this is not a book to be read at one sitting; it is more for reference and perusal when needing to better understand what the author is trying to say and to help us reach our conclusion. It makes sense to me that I became aware of this book while on vacation. I may have not taken notice of such a book otherwise.
  
• 
  Erin Britton

  Where the delightful Literary Wonderlands (2017) explored the imaginary worlds that have captivated generations of readers, as well as the brilliant minds that created them, its new companion volume, the sumptuously illustrated Literary Landscapes, charts the real-life settings of some of the world’s favourite works of fiction. In the seventy-three included essays, editor John Sutherland and a host of well-known and exceedingly well-informed contributors (including Robert Macfarlane, Tim Parks, Adam Roberts, Catherine Taylor and Laura Miller) delve into the geography and terrain of some of their favourite literary works and consider how the setting of a story can influence the characters, atmosphere and emotional impact of a book.
  
  As Sutherland notes in his introduction, all the books described in Literary Landscapes “capture, are even built upon, a sense of their authors having been to, seen, experienced, and been able to relate all the qualities of a place that, in combination, lodge that locale in cultural and geographical specificity.” Of course, the pool of potential inclusions in such a book is massive and so three key criteria were applied when determining which books would be examined in Literary Landscapes. First, each book must concern a land that exists now or has existed at some prior point. Second, the book must be rooted in historical time as well as locale, since the sense of literary place depends as much on history as it does in geography. Third, the book must include its described landscape as a subject in its own right rather than just as a setting (and, ideally, have influenced the environment in some way, as in the case of Steinbeck’s Cannery Row and Grace’s Potiki).
  
  The book is divided into four sections. The first, Romantic Prospects, begins with an essay exploring Bath, England, as portrayed in Jane Austen’s Persuasion and extends to the Nebraska, USA, of Willa Cather’s O Pioneers!, thereby covering books from the period 1817 to 1913. The second section, entitled Mapping Modernism, covers the period 1915 to 1945 and includes books such as James Joyce’s Ulysses and Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain. The Postwar Panorama section starts by considering Gerard Reve’s The Evenings: A Winter’s Tales (Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1947) and ends with Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago (Solovetsky Islands, White Sea, Russia, 1973). The final section, Contemporary Geographies, covers the period from 1975 to the present day, beginning with San Francisco, USA, as depicted by Armistead Maupin in Tales of the City and including among others Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend (Naples, Italy) and Francis Spufford’s Golden Hill (New York City, USA).
  
  The included essays differ somewhat in terms of their focus and approach, as well as their length and level of disclosure of plot details (beware: thar be spoilers), but they are all alike with regards to the authors’ evident enthusiasm for, and knowledge of, their subjects. There’s something to be learned from each one, with the essays also admirably demonstrating just how important place is to story and, often, vice versa. The chosen format also means that the essays included in Literary Landscapes highlight how locations can mean different things to different writers, as well as how they can evolve over time. For instance, the Paris of Honoré de Balzac’s La Comédie humaine is very different from that of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables and even more so from that of Patrick Modiano’s The Search Warrant.
  
  Literary Landscapes is an absolute delight to read. In addition to the hugely informative and entertaining essays, the book is wonderfully illustrated with hundreds of full-colour maps, archival materials, letters, photographs and original illustrations, which really serve to bring the discussed landscapes vividly to life. It’s a true booklover’s book and it’s almost certain to inspire further reading and investigation (to say nothing of adding to TBR piles worldwide, which probably sounds rather more painful than it really is).
• 
  Jessica

  This is such a great reference book to have. There are authors and books in here that I haven't heard of before, but I get to read about them through a short summary of the lens of place. For example, Thomas Mann's 'Magic Mountain' is presented through the lens of a wintery Swiss Alpine surrounding where the protagonist is staying at a sanatorium for upper middle class people, set in the post 2nd world war backdrop. Michael Ondatje's Toronto is seen through the building of its famous Toronto bridge, well before the city became its present avatar. Camilo's 'The Hive' has 300 characters buzzing around in a literary novel that presents the restless and anxieties of Madrid just after the Spanish Civil war had taken its toll. And so on and so forth. I picked this up in pristine condition for a 2nd hand book for 8 GBP. A steal!
• 
  J.L. Slipak

  MY THOUGHTS:
  
  I received this book in exchange for my honest review.
  
  WOW! I thought the first book, Literary Wonderlands, was extraordinary, but this book… off the charts!
  
  What a great resource book for any reader and/or writer. Showing the necessary relationship between setting and character in famous literary pieces throughout time is done with stunning artwork and great wisdom.
  
  “From vistas of sublime rugged countryside to the grime of moody city streets, the novels of the nineteenth century began the intense engagement with natural surroundings, rooting psychology in setting. In these dramas of sociability, place figures not just as mere backdrop, but a defined character in the cast of interactions.”
  
  Such a explicit example of thought and talent shown above, a piece taken from Literary Landscapes that basically says it all about the connection and importance of great settings to complete the purpose of plot and character. Without setting, you have an unfulfilled emptiness of expression that leaves the story flat.
  
  This book is divided up into the following main sections:
  
  Romantic Prospects
  Mapping Modernism
  Post-War Panoramas
  Contemporary Geographies
  
  The above is broken down into many sub-sections with terrific examples and artwork to bring the written word to life, full of meaning and definition. John Sutherland’s Introduction that follows is insightful and full of intellectual brilliance.
  
  Such amazing books, you must own both.
• 
  Kristen Barenthaler

  Be prepared to stop every few minutes to order another book on Amazon. Each book’s essay will bring you deeper into the world of literature and intrigue you into wanting to read the whole book.
  
  If you’re interested in the way the world molds literature, this book is for you. If you’re interested in travel, in-depth information, or literary locales, I’d skip to a different book. Each novel receives 1-2 pages of explanation on how the author used a known location to create a literary one.
• 
  Rebekah

  I made it most of the way through. Even though I find this collection very interesting and I love the idea of noticing how place plays a part, I pestered out in the end in the early 20th century. I did however appreciate how it spans the globe and introduced me to “new” writers.
• 
  Terry

  A fascinating collection of settings and essays describing the roles landscapes play in classics from around the world. Loved the writing. My brain is digesting the great food for thought provided by this book.
• 
  Sigrun Hodne

  A good idea & a beautifully made book
  — but the essays are too short to bring around any deep new knowledge about the works considered.
• 
  Gaby Meares

  So many places to visit! Use this book to plan your literary tourism! Wonderfully researched with gorgeous illustrations. A must for all bibliophiles.
• 
  Cecilia

  a few weird printing mistakes but in content fascinating
• 
  Mary

  I enjoyed the information and illustrations relating to the earlier books, but hadn't heard of many of the more recent ones and nor am I inspired to read any of those. Slightly disappointing overall.
• 
  Verity W

  Perfectly nice gift book. I’d read less of these than I expected but also wasn’t mega inspired to go and read many of the others. A fair few typos too. Fine.
• 
  Linda Gaines

  Lots of pictures of views from favorite books: To Kill a Mockingbird, Cloudstreet, The Age of Innocence and many more