John Held Jr

The other map which we looked at this evening – A dog’s idea of the ideal country estate was designed by John Held Jr. More about the artist here

Maps and Books

What a strange coincidence…tonight in the conversation class we discussed the maps of the heart i found in the book Personal Geographies.

I have just discovered that one of the maps was use a front cover for a book by Jonathan Franzen – The Discomfort Zone…according to one review…

he Discomfort Zone reflects the values and contradictions of the American midwest in the 1950s. Franzen holds up Charlie Brown from the Peanuts cartoons as an exemplary representation of life of the American middle class in the author’s home town of Webster Groves, Missouri, and countless similar towns. Values such as the love of nature are represented as being related to traditional Protestant values and as becoming less firmly rooted in society because of the waning importance of traditional religious beliefs

If you dont know Franzen’s books i recommend them – we already discussed one of his books of essays – How to be Alone – which is a good read too.