A great book charms readers. It makes them imagine amazing worlds from words. These imaginative places exist in the close space between writers and their readers.  But sometimes, the story blends into other forms of art.
 
That is exactly what happened when artist Andrew DeGraff broke down the worlds of some classic books. Those books included Robinson Crusoe and Huckleberry Finn. It also included Phileas Fogg. 

They were all for his recent collection. It is titled, Plotted: A Literary Atlas. His very detailed illustrations are literary maps of classic stories. They help readers "navigate the twists and turns of complex storylines." That is according to Linda Poon for CityLab.
 
DeGraff's work pulls readers into old favorites. They include A Wrinkle in Time and The Odyssey. They also include Around the World in 80 Days. 

The collection also features non-fiction maps. Those maps are inspired by books such as Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. It has historical facts. The fictional ones were left to DeGraff's wild imagination.
 
In the Los Angeles Review of Books, Jonathan Russell Clark writes:
 
My favorite of the bunch is of Jorge Luis Borges's story "The Library of Babel."  It describes an endless library.  It is made up of "an indefinite, perhaps infinite, number of hexagonal galleries. With enormous ventilation shafts in the middle. Encircled by very low railings." 

The Library has all of the possible books ever written. It is so full of knowledge that it is actually quite useless to its guests. DeGraff first shows a wide view of the Library from above. It looks like a detail of a mechanical beehive. Then he shows it in a close-up. We can spot people in the galleries. They are wandering around. They are looking for answers.
 
DeGraff released several time-lapse videos. They give you a look behind the scenes. They show how he crafted his amazingly complex maps. If those literary worlds are not enough DeGraff has more. Bold movie fans can always jump into his movie-inspired illustrations.
 
Just remember this.  Do not get too lost.

Creating the Island of Despair, from Robinson Crusoe - Andrew DeGraff from Andrew DeGraff on Vimeo.

Source URL: https://www.tweentribune.com/article/junior/author-provides-maps-classic-stories/