Web application for literary cartography
Atlas of Finnish Literature 1870–1940 is a web application that allows researching the imagined geography of literature in the Finnish language. The application brings together places, authors and their works. Thus, one can, for example, study maps drawn with literature, search for places near and far, or dive into the geographical aspects of literary works. Places mentioned in literature, be they cities or states, lakes or mountains, streets or churches, are projected over a map. The application offers multiple ways for users to search, sort and inspect geography in literature by focusing on places, works or authors.
This application is a result of a research project with the same name. The project Atlas of Finnish Literature 1870–1940 participates in the research tradition of literary cartography. Literary cartography, which emerged in the late 1990s as part of the spatial turn in the humanities, has, in the 2000s, adopted the methods of digital humanities. This approach combines the processing of natural languages with geographic information systems. The Atlas of Finnish Literature 1870–1940 project applies these new methods for the first time to the study of Finnish fiction.
Atlas of Finnish Literature 1870–1940 has been implemented at the University of Turku in the department of cultural history. It is funded by the Alfred Kordelin Foundation – Major Cultural Projects 2022–2024.