The Dictionary of Imaginary Places: The Newly Updated and Expanded Classic

by Alberto Manguel

Other authorsGianni Guadalupi (Author)
Hardcover, 1999

Status

Available

Call number

809.93372

Collection

Publication

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (1999), Edition: Upd Sub, Hardcover, 776 pages

Description

"From Atlantis to Xanadu, this Baedeker of make-believe takes readers on a tour of more than 1,200 realms invented by storytellers from Homer's day to our own." "Most every fanciful world from books and film is included: Shangri-La and El Dorado are here, as is Utopia, Tolkien's Middle-earth, and Carroll's Wonderland, as well as the Beatles' Pepperland, the Marx Brothers' Freedonia, and a strange little town called Stepford. The history and behavior of the inhabitants of these lands are described in detail and supplemented by more than 220 maps and illustrations that depict the lay of the land in a host of elsewheres." "Now brought up-to-date with dozens of new entries for such places as Jurassic Park, Salman Rushdie's Sea of Stories, and Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, this volume is even more comprehensive and entertaining."--Jacket.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Branduno
I first got the 1987 edition of this book as a gift from my uncle in the mid-nineties, and it has since been one of my favorite volumes to idly peruse. Though it contains lengthy entries on the most frequently visited of imaginary places, such as Middle-earth, Earthsea, and Oz, its entries on less
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familiar regions such as Sylvia Townsend Warner's Kingdoms of Elfin are welcome.

This work was my first introduction to such places as Arkham, Gormenghast, and Erewhon, and inspired me to find each source work. I've found it both a useful reference as well as fine pleasure reading due to Manguel and Guadalupi's jovial prose, which treats each place as if the reader might really be planning to travel there in the near future.
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LibraryThing member Ameliaiif
This book is absolutely amazing, it is insightful, and it is a must-have for anyone attempting to write fantasy. included are: - mythical places like Valhalla and Hades - classical locations like Thomas More's Utopia, the places in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels... - EVERYWHERE in the Middle
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Earth universe! (that alone deserves 5 stars) - and recent locations, like J.K. Rowling's Hogwarts!!! Ohhh and the pictures are wonderful, too!
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LibraryThing member GarryRogers
The armchair explorer's guide to the geography of imaginative literature. I thought I knew some of the places well, but I learned more when I saw them through the authors' eyes. This book is a source of ideas, but it's mainly just fun.
LibraryThing member soniaandree
This book is a library essential - it can be browsed each time there's a need to refresh a fictional setting, in fiction, science-fiction and fantasy. This newly revised edition includes Hogwarts, and it is a most useful tool when refering to imaginary places.
LibraryThing member Zmrzlina
Just a book to pick up, open to any page, and get lost in an imaginary landscape. I adore setting.

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1999

Physical description

776 p.; 9.48 inches

ISBN

0151005419 / 9780151005413
Page: 0.3192 seconds