[ecrea] New book: Places of the Imagination

/ /*Places of the Imagination - **Media, Tourism, Culture
*

*Stijn Reijnders, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands*

Recent years have seen an explosive growth in the phenomenon of people 
visiting locations from popular novels, films or television series. 
Places of the Imagination presents a timely and insightful analysis of 
this form of media tourism, exploring the question of how best to 
explain the increasing popularity of media tourism within contemporary 
culture. Drawing on extensive empirical and interview material, this 
book examines the representation of landscapes in popular narratives 
that have inspired media tourism, whilst also investigating the effects 
over time of such tourism on local landscapes, and the processes by 
which tourists appropriate the landscape, experiencing and accommodating 
them into their imagination.

Oriented around three central case studies of popular television 
detective shows, famous films and classic literature, Places of the 
Imagination develops a new theoretical understanding of media tourism. 
As such, it will appeal to sociologists and cultural geographers, as 
well as those working in the fields of media and cultural studies, 
popular and fan culture, tourism and the sociology of leisure.*
*

*Contents: *Foreword, Nick Couldry; Introduction. Theoretical Framework: 
Places of the imagination; Part I TV Detectives: The guilty landscape of 
the TV detective; Doing the TV detective tour. Part II James Bond: Media 
pilgrimages into the world of James Bond; On the track of 007. Part III 
Dracula: Stalking the Count; Conclusion; Appendix; Filmography; 
References; Index.*
*

*About the Author: *Stijn Reijnders is Associate Professor in Cultural 
Heritage, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands. His research is 
funded by the Dutch Science Foundation.*
*

*Reviews: *'Stijn Reijnders has produced a lucid and engaging book with 
a fresh perspective. I had no idea the media (fictional literature, 
television, film) inspired so much tourism; now I have been introduced 
to some wonderful illustrations. Informed by a strong theoretical 
framework, employing the concept of lieux d'imagination, Reijnders 
nevertheless recognises the physical reality of places. I shall refer to 
this book in my teaching, using it as the key source for new lectures on 
media tourism.'
Karen O'Reilly, Loughborough University, UK

*To order, please visit: www.ashgate.com*