Topical Guide 295
Mark Dorset
Places: Real and Fictional
Maps: Real and Fictional
“CHACALLIT is about one hundred seventy-eight and a half miles from Boston,” said Lorna, looking up from the map that she had spread out on the kitchen table.
“ ‘About’?” said Herb. He poked her. She bumped him with her hip.
“About,” she said. “Here. Let’s try something.” From a drawer, she took a ball of string. She stretched a length of it from Boston to Chacallit. She held the Boston end in place, and with her pencil at the other end, she scribed an arc. Then she held the Chacallit end in place, put her pencil at the Boston end, and scribed another arc.
“What have we got?” asked Herb.
Together, they bent over the map.
“Well, we’ve got West Burke, Vermont,” said Lorna, pointing out the northern intersection of the arcs, “or,” turning to the southern intersection, “Babbington, New York. On Long Island.”Herb ’n’ Lorna, Chapter 8
The marked map would have looked like this, I think, though marked by hand, of course. MD
See also: Places, Real and Fictional TG 64
Currently watching on the treadmill:
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From Kanopy: A film portrait of the creative community of women writers, artists, photographers and editors (including Colette, Djuna Barnes, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas) who flocked to the Left Bank of Paris in the early decades of the 20th century. Utilizing groundbreaking research and newly discovered home movies, PARIS WAS A WOMAN re-creates the mood and flavor of this female artistic community in Paris during its most magical era. Winner of the Siegessäule Readers’ Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. “Time travel doesn’t exist, but documentaries like ‘Paris Was A Woman’ … are the next best thing.” - Lawrence Van Gelder, The New York Times
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