Some of the best novel writers say they can't begin a tale until they know the place around it. So it's no surprise that best stories take you on a journey to a place, evoking the sights, sounds, smells, and feel of their setting.In a recent conversation between Jennifer Egan and George Saunders (two very good contenders for the best American authors right now) hosted in the New York Times Magazine, Egan said that her entry point into writing fiction is "almost always place: a sense of an atmosphere, a location. I tend to have that before I have the people or even the language."Setting matters, it helps define why something happens and how people respond to it.With the importance of place in mind, Philadelphia-based print shop Hog Island Press created the illustration below, which shows where 42 of the greatest works of American literature are located on a map of the country.We've republished a large version here with permission:It's like a to-read list and travel plans all in one.You've got everything from the dusty Oklahoma at the start of Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" to the grim and gray sea off the coast of Nantucket in Melville's "Moby Dick."Some books"On the Road," for exampletravel through different states, but are pinned to one essential location here.Also note the clusters around certain cities, too: New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and New Orleans:There are plenty more books that could be added to a map of great American novels, but we still think it's pretty cool.The map is easiest to read on a larger screen, so if you happen to be on a mobile device here's the key:Moby Dick, Nantucket, MAAdventures of Huckleberry Finn, Hannibal, MOThe Awakening, New Orleans, LAThe Octopus: A Story of California, San Joaquin Valley, CAThe Virginian, Sunk Creek, WYThe Jungle, Chicago, ILMy ntonia, Webster County, NEMain Street, Sauk Centre, MNThe Age of Innocence, New York, NYThe Great Gatsby, Long Island, NYThe Sound and the Fury, Jefferson, MSThe Maltese Falcon, San Francisco, CATo Have and Have Not, Key West, FLTheir Eyes Were Watching God, Central & Southern FLThe Day of the Locust, Hollywood, CAThe Big Sleep, Los Angeles, CAThe Grapes of Wrath, Sallisaw, OKNative Son, Chicago, ILAll the King's Men, Mason County, LAThe Catcher in the Rye, New York, NYWise Blood, Taulkinham, TNInvisible Man, Greenwood, SCThe Adventures of Augie March, Chicago, ILOn the Road, San Francisco, CARabbit, Run; Brewer, PATo Kill a Mockingbird, Maycomb, ALThe Moviegoer, New Orleans, LAOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Salem, ORThe Bell Jar, New York, NYDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' San Francisco, CAFear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NVBreakfast of Champions, Midland City, INThe Killer Angels, Gettysburg, PASong of Solomon, MichiganThe Shining, Estes, COHousekeeping, IDConfederacy of Dunces, New Orleans, LAThe Color Purple, Hart County, GAIronweed, Albany, NYBlood Meridian, TexasMiddlesex, Detroit, MIThe Namesake, New York, NYJoin the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: There's a hidden map in your iPhone of everywhere you've been
Click here to read full news..
