Fairy Tale Route
In "Deep Maps and Spatial Narratives" Worthy Martin states, "Latitude and longitude (even as schematized for mythological landscape of the Iliad) provide the framework within which spatial narratives can be interwoven to make accessible the full range of human agency and activity." (Bodenhamer, Corrigan, and Harris, 221.) While this was applied to a Greek narrative my research on the Brothers Grimm makes it applicable to apply to a fairy tale landscape instead of a mythological landscape. The following Story Map was developed to show the intersecting connection between the stories and the reality they are set in. While the stories are told and are possibly centuries old the locations that are mentioned in them are still a part of this world. A world that this map makes more tangible.
From "Little Red Riding Hood" to "Sleeping Beauty", this map provides physical locations to these imaginative and wonderful stories. As discussed by the editors of the aforementioned book, "For the Humanist, space is not only physical space but occupied space, or place, and the concept, like that of time exists not simply in a real world but in memory, imagination, and experience." (Bodenhamer, Corrigan, and Harris, 2.) My goal with this map was to explore the imagination, but by virtue of the kind of stories the Brothers Grimm gathered it also explores the real world and memory. This is what Digital Humanities is all about, by looking at things with a new perspective (even simple points on a map) allow us to make new and potentially beneficial connections. Connections that can engage us deeper to not just the tangible but also the intangible. Digital humanities provides one of these outlets for making that possible.
Utilizing the Map Journal template, these maps were created with Esri ArcGIS Online in conjunction with Esri Story Maps. To interact with the map below, click through the tabs on the left side and start exploring. Beginning on the third tab, each point on the map is expandable with a legend to explain what the symbols represent. Make sure you tab over each point to see the different locations and relevant information.
- The base map for the Deutschland, das Schoene Reiseland tab is a map of Germany, 1935. From the David Rumsey Map Collection
- The base map for the Atlas Map of Germany tab is a map of Germany, 1851. From the David Rumsey Map Collection
