Cartographic Explorations of Self in Michael Ondaatje's Running in the Family and Jacques Poulin's Volkswagen Blues

Abstract

Shaped by both those who make and read them, maps generate a two-way transformative process whereby subjective imagination inscribes and reinscribes place with meaning and, at the same time, prompts the subject to figure and re-configure portrayals of self as reflected in the charting of place. This enactment of the sociology of the map is particularly evident in Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje and Volkswagen Blues by Jacques Poulin. Both texts provoke an awareness of the close connection between the representation of space and the process of mapping space on the one hand, and the intimate quest for personal and cultural identity on the other. Resume Façonnées tant par ceux qui les dressent que par ceux qui les lisent, les cartes déclenchent un processus de transformation bidirectionnelle par lequel l'imagination subjective non seulement donne et redonne une signification au lieu, mais aussi invite le sujet à construire et reconstruire des représentations de soi dans la localisation du lieu. Cette mise en scène de la sociologie des cartes est marquante dans Un air de famille de Michael Ondaatje et Volkswagen Blues de Jacques Poulin. Les deux livres éveillent la conscience, du lien étroit entre, d'une part, là représentation et la localisation de l'espace et, d'autre part, la recherche intime de l'identité personnelle et culturelle.

The skin of the map: Viewing cartography through tactile empathy

“…Moreover, there are interesting suggestions to be derived from literary criticism. For instance, while using the phrase ‘enactment of cartography’, Pedri (2009: 44) argued that ‘the operative function of the personal is often so pervasive that it inspires readers to look for traces of their own selves on the maps’ surface’. Commenting on the poem Listening to Maps (1971) by Howard McCord, Pedri (2009: 45) suggests that map readers ‘see their own faces on the maps surfaces’.…”

“…For instance, while using the phrase ‘enactment of cartography’, Pedri (2009: 44) argued that ‘the operative function of the personal is often so pervasive that it inspires readers to look for traces of their own selves on the maps’ surface’. Commenting on the poem Listening to Maps (1971) by Howard McCord, Pedri (2009: 45) suggests that map readers ‘see their own faces on the maps surfaces’. Thus, the existing literature on the representation of maps in a variety of media could be revisited through a focus on tactility, and new repertoires of visual/verbal texts centred on haptic cartographies and map surfaces could be assembled.…”