Atlas of the European Novel: 1800-1900

Although I enjoyed it immensely, this book somewhat disappoints in that its themes aren't taken far enough. As Terry Eagleton said in the TLS "the way is paved for a 'literary geography'. But such a geography is not established here. Chapter one concentrates on the social issues implied by location, movements and class in Austen, Scott, and in Spanish and French 19th century works. In the second chapter, Moretti looks at what we can imply about London and Paris from Dickens and Balzac. Finally, Moretti looks at how different geographical markets have different tastes by charting the publishing history of classic texts, how quickly they were translated into other languages, and by examining the catalogs of the big circulation libraries. Along with the classics, Moretti uses some very obscure texts for his examples, which can be frustrating. Still, the ninety or so maps are fascinating, as is the methodology they use, which opens up the possibilities of new methods of analysis for the future. Umberto Eco's Six Walks in the Fictional Woods does some similar things with diagrammatic analysis, and John Sutherland's series of literary puzzles essay (starting with 'Is Heathcliff a Murder') show up some similarly unexpected sidelights on 19thc texts. For a coffee table, but still interesting and useful guide to the locations used by authors in their works, Malcolm Bradbury's Atlas of Literature is recommended.