Maps of Empire offers a series of deft close readings that highlight how mid-twentieth century writers draw on multiple traditions and histories to make explicit a world that is international, multilingual, and interconnected. Wanberg offers meticulously researched reception histories of literature authored during and after national liberation movements. These reception histories show how critics and reviewers have tended to deploy “imperial cartographies,” such as “North/South, East/West, Indigenous/settler-colonial,” as frameworks for positioning complex literary works (1). Wanberg goes on to demonstrate persuasively how this literature in fact reflects “richer topographies” that challenge binary and essentializing conceptions of place and identity (1). Wanberg’s book is exemplarily comparative insofar as it works across languages and geographies. Chapters center literary works translated from Arabic, French, Persian, and Pima. While Wanberg works predominately with English translations, his readings are attentive to the complexities of translation and frequently cite original works. In bringing its chosen texts...
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