Placing Literature in Real World

Setting is a vital component in any work of literature- from Charles Dickens’s London to Mark Twain’s Hannibal to Jack Kerouac’s Lowell. Putting a story in the context of a real physical location gives stories context, placing readers in a familiar locale as the story unfolds around them.

Placing Literature is an online database of places from scenes in literature- sourced and plotted by readers and researchers. Created by an author, a geographer and an engineer, the goal of Placing Literature is to connect readers to the places they are reading about, highlighting the meanings, values and emotions attached to a space. Particularly, in this case, the meanings and values created by the author and experienced by the reader.