Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T00:23:56.761Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 8 - Wordsworth and Mandelbrot on the Coast of Britain

from Part II - Cartographic Encounters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2021

By
Joshua Wilner
Edited by
Sally Bushell ,
Julia S. Carlson  and
Damian Walford Davies
Sally Bushell
Affiliation:
Lancaster University
Julia S. Carlson
Affiliation:
University of Cincinnati
Damian Walford Davies
Affiliation:
Cardiff University
Get access

Summary

Early on in The Fractal Geometry of Nature, Benoit Mandelbrot foregrounds the western coast of Britain as a paradigmatic instance of a fractal object in nature, combining pattern with irregularity at ever-diminishing levels of scales.That emblematic status is curiously anticipated by the land's-end vision from Snowdon which closes Wordsworth’s Prelude. Criticism has long recognized the totalizing function of the ascent of Snowdon. This essay seeks to emphasize the way in which it interrupts the narrative process it recapitulates and to connect that interruption with the irregularity or fractiousness of fractal form.

Keywords

coastlineSnowdonWordsworthMandelbrotfractalsself-similarityirregularityThe Prelude
Type
Chapter
Information
Romantic Cartographies
Mapping, Literature, Culture, 1789–1832
 , pp. 195 - 208
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×