Places are a way of seeing. They are a prism, or a lens, through which we view reality. The places that we live in shape us just as we shape them. As an illustration of this principle, I've posted pictures from the area where I grew up with the first quotes that came to mind when I sat down to review them. That's not to say that they're exactly how I picture Minas Tirith, or Camelot, or Rivendell, but that my vision of each literary location takes its color from the basic images of my youth. Now this can be seen the other way round as well. Books have colored my sense of place. There's an extra layer of meaning to all the towns and hamlets of rural new England because they are so "Shire-like". The Colt Arms factory, even now that its been renovated, will always appear to me through the screen of Osgiliath. All the Victorian Gothic follies and monuments will forever be hallowed for me by the image of the king. Books and places. Signs and symbols.
and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive at where we started and know the place for the first time. -T.S. Eliot
*Photo Credit: My wife: who has her own way of seeing.
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