TEHRAN – “Atlas of the European Novel 1800-1900” by Franco Moretti has been published in Persian.Ney is the publisher of the book originally released in 1999.

It has been translated into Persian by Mehran Mohajer and Mohammad Nabavi.In this pioneering study, Moretti presents a fresh and exciting perspective by mapping the often unexpected relations between literature and geography.This book is based on some interesting ideas, foremost among them the application and use of geography in studying literature. The idea of creating a “literary atlas” grips Moretti, and this book is a small attempt at doing so. Divided into two sections, it looks at the geography of literature from within (geography in the texts themselves) and without (the geography of the actual books, i.e.

their spread and dissemination), restricting itself basically to the European novel of the nineteenth century.With 91 maps, it is richly illustrated – a map or more for every point, it seems.

Mapping out the plots of novels, Moretti shows that there is something to be gleaned from this cartographic exercise. The locales of Dickens’ London, Austen’s England, and Balzac’s Paris can more clearly be understood if presented in the form of a map.Moretti teaches English and comparative literature at Columbia University.

He is the author of “Signs Taken for Wonders”, “The Way of the World” and “Modern Epic, all from Verso”.Photo: Front cover of the Persian edition of Franco Moretti’s book “Atlas of the European Novel 1800-1900”.MMS/YAW