Literary maps are a tool used by many different types of organizations and individuals for different functions. Some are used in school lessons to map elements and locations of a particular story, called story mapping. Assigned to students, this can be a visual counterpart that often helps a student understand the various elements of particular piece of literature. See E.H. Shepard's Map of Pooh Country or McMurtry's Lonesome Dove from the Texas Monthly magazine. Or they can present an authors characters and place names across an entire region, such as Sinclair Lewis' map of America.
Literary Maps of a certain city or region can be used in a very different way. They can point sites where events and people existed only in literature within a particular city, such as the address of fictional detective Sherlock Holmes at 221B Baker Street, London. They can also help readers locate works of literature that are set in their own backyard. See Denver Story Trek or 'Other Literary Maps' resources on the sidebar for multiple state/country literary maps.
Creating a literary map can become a means of exploring a specific region's literary history. It can become a visual representation of a region's fingerprint on the literary world. They can be used to guide new readers to regional favorites, or old readers to new favorites.
In all of these ways, the literary map is a useful tool, to be used however the user sees fit. Enjoy our version of a Literary Map of Colorado and stop back again soon. Next, we will have basic instructions on how to create your own literary map.
