Title

Spaces of Narrative: Melville's Literary Cartography

Document Type

Research Report

Abstract

This project contributed to a book-length, interdisciplinary study of the relations between narrative and mapping, specifically as figured forth in the narrative writings of Herman Melville. The Research Enhancement Program grant allowed me, inter alia, to research in the Henry Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography and examine a number of early editions of Melville work in the Newberry Library in Chicago, IL. It also afforded me the opportunity to write throughout the summer 2008. The research undertaken with the help of the REP has been (or will be) presented in numerous works in progress or works forthcoming, most notably my book "Melville, Mapping and Globalization" (Continuum, 2009), two conference papers, one scheduled panel on "geocriticism" (at this December's MLA convention), and a proposed book-manuscript (tentatively titled, "Literary Cartography: Space, Narrative, and Representation," invited by the Ohio State University Press) that I am working on now. The REP grant has benefited my research immensely.