Maps of the Imagination:
The Writer as Cartographer
Maps of the Imagination is that rare thing, a book that's altogether absorbing, original, and beautiful. Peter Turchi invites a reader into his lucid explorations of fictional design, accessing a rich array of sources from R.L. Stevenson to Italo Calvino, to the magisterial Edward Tufte. Wonderfully rewarding.
--Judith Grossman
Remarkably and satisfyingly meandering...Illustrations of all imaginable types of maps, plus entertaining epigraphs to each section, add to the collage of textures in this extensive (yet considering its contents, surprisingly compact) volume. My favorite set of epigraphs, by the way, is Saul Bellow's "perhaps, being lost, one should get loster," followed by Dean Young's "perhaps, being lost, one should get lobster." In a voice that is both erudite and playful, Turchi navigates this flood of text and images to examine representation, realism, form, selection, omission, perspective, exploration, discovery, and other issues that are at the heart of both literature and map-making...You could get lost in this book. So go ahead.
--Kasi L.Williamson
in Speakeasy
The best books, like the best maps, not only lead you into unfamiliar territory but allow you to re-envision your own familiar surroundings from a fresh perspective. Peter Turchi's Maps of the Imagination offers serious writers and casual readers alike a new and useful way of seeing the landscape of literature. Provocative, original and often funny, it provides something better than straight paths or or simple destinations: the navigation tools necessary to self-discovery.
--Miles Harvey
A treasure map for discovering secrets of the writer's life.
--The Charlotte Observer
We need many good books, each revealing glimpses of the mysterious terrain. Between verbal maps of human existence and visual maps of other geographies, Peter Turchi draws a wealth of revealing parallels. His reflections on how we make sense of things should prove illuminating to readers and writers both.
--Scott Russell Sanders
Peter Turchi, author ("The Girls Next Door", "Magician") and director of the MFA creative writing program at Warren Wilson College, has written a book that cries to be read more than once. Written by someone who obviously has had experience in guiding writers along a known path in search of the unknown, "Maps of the Imagination" employs the metaphor of map-making to elucidate the creative process...Turchi leaves the writer with latitude to do as he or she will. "Maps of the Imagination" is nicely organized, as a good map should be, while allowing for diversion, detours, and delightful excursions. It functions as a scenic overlook where both the writer and the armchair philosopher may contemplate where they've been and where they're headed.
--Barbara Bamberger Scott
Greensboro News & Record
--Margot Livesey
