A Mapmaker's Dream: The Meditations of Fra Mauro, Cartographer to the Court of Venice
James Cowan's fantasy of a Venetian cartographer owes a large and obvious debt toBorges, with its speculations on geography as a construct of the human consciousness, its erudite references, and its tales of explorations into an imaginary world. Through the purported journals of Fra Mauro, a cloistered monk who actually lived during the 15th century and who, in Cowan's novel, has resolved to create a map of the world without ever leaving his cell, we learn of a race of men with one foot the size of an umbrella, about the Vatican emissary to the Mongol court,and about the devil worshippers of the land called Mosul. Over the course of the book, Fra Mauro creates a world of his own, composed less of geographical knowledge than of meditation, folklore, and books.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.