Imagined geographies: Melancholy, allegory, psychogeography and the Island of Ogygia

Abstract

The Island of Ogygia is explored as an emotional terrain. Ogygia and its occupant, Calypso, are recognised as points of melancholy, a condition which can be plotted spatially through emotional mapping. Drawing on historical exemplars such as Madeleine de Scudery's Carte du Tendre a map of the Island of Ogygia is proposed. Navigation through this emotional environment uses a Temperamental Compass, one which responds to the temperaments that are manifested in the landscape.