A Mapmaker's Dream: The Meditations of Fra Mauro, Cartographer to the Court of Venice - Rilegato

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     In Cowan's luminescent little tale, a 16 th century Venetian monk named fra Mauro slaves to create a map of the world — a map that will sum up humankind's broadest knowledge and experience. He is perfectly situated, for Venice, a merchant city at the crossroads, 'has the world in th epalm of its hand." Fra Mauro absorbs all he hears— the story of an oyster shell embedded in an icon, tales from Persia and the land of the Tartars — and attempts to incorporate it all into his map. He also has a shocking encounter with the cartography of a Tunisian slave whose world view is very different from his own. Each tale falls like a tiny gem in the reader's lap, and the atmosphere is at once dreamy and sharply detailed, throwing in relief another world and another time. In the end, Fra Mauro has 'no way of knowing whether I was reflecting earth's existence or my own.," laving us to consider the nature of knowledge, self, and the world. Not much happens, and the actual creation of the map in anticlimatic, but this lovely meditation will enchant many readers. — Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal , Vol. 121, No. 5, September 15, 1996
     

James Cowan is the author of more than twenty books, including Francis: A Saint's Way and the best-selling A Mapmaker's Dream , for which he was awarded the Australian Literature Society's Gold Medal. He lives in Queensland, Australia.