Introduction

Offering a wide-ranging survey of the field, this introduction begins by examining some of the different ways in which 'literary geography' has been defined and understood. Tracing the origins of the term to the early twentieth century, we sketch a brief history of literary geography up to the present, following its parallel development in the disciplines of human geography and literary studies and then describing the increasing convergence of these strands during the twenty-first century. Next, we consider the various modes of interdisciplinarity that literary geography has fostered, suggesting that these are best understood as a dynamic constellation of heterogeneous practices and methodologies. There follows a review of some emergent trends and critical concerns in contemporary literary geography, including work that engages with the climate emergency, decolonial struggles and geographies of race, literary tourism, and mobility studies. In our view, the development of creative-critical modes of writing is another highly significant feature of literary geography in the twenty-first century. Finally, we sketch the ground-plan of the volume that follows, explaining how its six sections fit together.