Maps in American Literature, 15th–21st Century

This symposium seeks to uncover these often overlooked influences, examining how specific maps have shaped both the form and content of American literature. By “maps,” we refer here to cartographic documents of real-world spaces, focusing specifically on those that exist outside or alongside the texts themselves —whether preexisting maps that writers engaged with or maps produced for or after publication. This excludes maps of fictional spaces such as Sherwood Anderson’s map of Winesburg, Ohio, or Faulkner’s map of Yoknapatawpha County.