Geocriticism provides a theoretical foundation and a critical exploration of geocriticism, an interdisciplinary approach to understanding literature in relation to space and place. Drawing on diverse thinkers, Westphal argues that a geocritical approach enables novel ways of seeing literary texts and of conducting literary studies.

L emergence est la pensee du nouveau, de l inedit. Comment quelque chose peut-il apparaitre la ou rien n etait ? Pourquoi le tout n est-il pas seulement la somme de ses parties ? Ce - quelque chose -, ce supplement, qui font la naissance, l avenement ou la creation de phenomenes culturels et scientifiques, ainsi que les mouvements qu ils generent, sont etudies sous le nom d - emergence -. Dedicace par un prix Nobel de Litterature, rassemblant des auteurs qui font autorite dans leur domaine, cet ouvrage constitue aussi bien une synthese et une analyse scientifique des theories de l emergence...

Geocriticism provides a theoretical foundation and a critical exploration of geocriticism, an interdisciplinary approach to understanding literature in relation to space and place. Drawing on diverse thinkers, Westphal argues that a geocritical approach enables novel ways of seeing literary texts and of conducting literary studies.

Originally published in French as La geocritique: reel, fiction, espace.

In recent years the spatial turn in literary and cultural studies has opened up new ways of looking at the interactions among writers, readers, texts, and places. Geocriticism offers a timely new approach, and this book presents an array of concrete examples or readings, which also reveal the broad range of geocritical practices.

In The Plausible World, the intersections of literature and cartography enable readers to understand that place is anything but purely geographic: a plausible world is created as a strategy to fill the void. Innovative in his approach, Westphal challenges the view that perceptions and representations of space are stable or straightforward.