Writing the Land

Horizontality, Verticality, and Deep Travel in William Least Heat-Moon's “PrairyErth”

Abstract

This paper focuses on the meaning of horizontality and verticality in William Least Heat-Moon's PrairyErth (1991). Part travelogue, part ethnographic research, Heat-Moon's text explores the history and geography of Chase County, a region of 733 square miles and about 3,000 citizens in the middle of the Flint Hills, Kansas. Starting from the concept of "deep travel" that PrairyErth embodies, the paper examines the construction of vertical and horizontal cultural maps, related to the synchronic/diachronic reading of space enacted by the author. The essay is set out in three main sections, that investigate the theme of individual and collective memory, the opposition between European and Native American cultural cartographies, and the relation between open/closed geographies and open/closed textual spaces.