Imaginary places in literature that became iconic

Books take us to places that we have dreamed about and visited in our imagination. Also, authors often create such wonderlands in their works that the readers are left spellbound and captivated. The impact of these imaginary places on the minds and consciousness of the readers leaves an imprint. Resultantly, we as readers are left to our thoughts to visit, explore and wander around in these places.

The aura of many imaginary places created in literature has become so that they have become iconic. They have been talked and discussed so much that the line between them being real or imaginary has blurred. Some of them that are more iconic have actually been recreated for fans and admirers to visit and experience. Here is a look at some imaginary places in the literature that became iconic.

For those of us who grew up reading the Harry Potter books and seeing the movies, it has been a collective fantasy of ours to study at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is a place of learning where children learn how to practice magic in several forms including potions and spells. It is full of magical creatures, enchanted plants, and all kinds of magical adventures.

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Malgudi is a fictional town located in South India in the novels and short stories of R.K. Narayan. It forms the setting for most of Narayan's works. Malgudi was a blend of two Bangalore localities - Malleshwaram and Basavanagudi. Narayan successfully portrayed Malgudi as a miniature of India.

The prettiest location in L. Frank Baum’s ‘The Wizard of Oz’ is the Emerald City. It could be accessed by the Yellow Brick Road, and everything there is emerald green in colour. The inside is amazing and spectacular with jovial people around and the so-called ‘wizard’ himself.

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The village of Kanthapura finds its mention in Raja Rao’s first and best-known novel by the same name. It is located in south India and is mainly occupied by two communities-the dominant castes like the Brahmins and the lower castes like the Pariahs. The village retains its long-cherished traditions of festivals in which all castes interact and the villagers are united. Also, it is believed to be protected by a local deity named Kenchamma.

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The most popular depiction of Xanadu was dreamed up by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his 1797 poem "Kubla Khan" under the influence of opium, where he describes Xanadu as "a stately pleasure-dome." This famous poem was inspired by Marco Polo's reported visit to Xanadu, the summer residence of Mongol ruler Kublai Khan.

Pic credit: Harper Perennial Classics

Lilliput is a fictional island that appears in the first part of the 1726 novel Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. It is located in the South Indian Ocean and inhabited by tiny people who are about one-twelfth the height of ordinary human beings. Lilliput is ruled by a self-styled emperor and its capital is Mildendo.

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The splendour of Chocolate Factory in ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ owned by Willy Wonka is best described in the book itself: “Mr. Willy Wonka can make marshmallows that taste of violets, and rich caramels that change colour every ten seconds as you suck them, and little feathery sweets that melt away deliciously the moment you put them between your lips. He can make chewing gum that never loses its taste, and sugar balloons that you can blow up to enormous sizes before you pop them with a pin and gobble them up.”

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Shangri-La is a fictional Tibetan land of eternal youth in James Hilton's 1933 novel Lost Horizon. The term la means "mountain pass" in Tibetan. Interestingly, one county in the Yunnan Province even officially renamed itself to Shangri-La County in 2001 in an effort to promote tourism, claiming that the imaginary paradise that Hilton wrote of is in fact real.

Pic credit: Vintage Classics

The place founds a mention in Thomas Hardy’s major works, which were all set in the south and southwest of England. He named this area as "Wessex" after the medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom that existed in this part of that country before the unification of England by Athelstan. It is in Wessex that the readers can visit Hardy's fictional settings such as 'Christminster', the Oxford of today, or 'Melchester', which is Salisbury, with its famous cathedral spire.

Pic credit: Wordsworth Edition Ltd.

River Heights is a fictional place from the Nancy Drew series. In the series, Nancy lives in the fictional town of River Heights with her father, attorney Carson Drew, and their housekeeper, Hannah Gruen. It is where all the action, suspense, and drama takes place.

Pic credit: Simon & Schuster