A Mapmaker's Dream, subtitled "The Meditations of Fra Mauro, Cartographer to the Court of Venice," is an enjoyable collection of stories of fantastic places and people. Readers who demand plots, though, should steer clear. These stories are held together loosely by a single thread -- the 16th century monk who wishes to create a map of the world based solely on the tales brought to him by other travelers.
A Mapmaker's Dream is most enjoyable when it gives itself over to the wonderfully exotic stories of the travelers. The fantasy involved in the stories bring levity to a book that, at times, can get a bit too erudite and weighed down by its own lofty aspirations.
For example, in an attempt to ensure that the reader understands every historical reference made, author James Cowan includes a multitude of footnotes, many of which take up more page-space than the story text itself. While much of the information is, indeed, interesting, I found it extremely distracting having to stop after every paragraph to read a 3-paragraph footnote about one term or person mentioned in the paragraph I had just read.
Essentially, The Mapmaker's Dream is an upscale Gulliver's Travels. One of Fra Mauro's visitors tells him about his stay with the bird people of Borneo, a tribe of headhunters who followed a spiritual path laid out for them by the calls of seven sacred birds. The traveler regales how he, too, experienced the unusual bond with the birds, which seemed to be a sort of collective consciousness, an omnipotent being, the voice of Nature.
Another traveler describes to Fra Mauro a visit to the country of the Tartars, where he encounters Cyclopedian creatures, and a region where the women have banished men due to their unhygenic practices (such as wallowing in mud) that give them the appearance of dogs.
Beautifully written, the book seems designed specifically to be read while drinking wine. I'm surprised that Peter Greenaway hasn't made a movie out of this novel, as the overall impression it leaves on the reader is much the same as the impression left on one who has seen Greenaway's "The Belly of an Architect" or "Prospero's Books" -- you know you've just experienced something very artistic and wonderful, even if you haven't the vaguest idea of what it all was supposed to mean.
For Children: Kunmangur the Rainbow Serpent.
