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In the first part of this essay we will explain the decisions that led to certain map classifications rather than others, which would have been suitable as well, but were judged less characteristic of the corpus as a whole (paragraph 1). In the following paragraphs, we will show, with numerous examples, the main types of maps that have been theorised (and their related comments), which are as follows: for the collective semantic area (the epos of the place of origin), maps that speak of a wounded land, injured, in danger (paragraph 2); or, conversely, maps that show a "monumentalised" place, through its historical, scenic, or artistic qualities (paragraph 3). For the individual semantic area (the novel of the place of origin), there are maps celebrating this place as an Eden, a place of the soul totally or partially lost (paragraph 4.); or, conversely, there are maps that deny the place, because it is not in tune with the real identity of the individual, or because it was considered of little value (paragraph 5). Finally, the last section will be devoted to those cases in which subjects co-belong to more than one place of origin, due to familial displacement (paragraph 6). These cases show some variety because some migrant subjects represent different places without favouring any one in particular, so making themselves promoters of a flawless intercultural "translatability"; in other cases we witness an attempt to maintain a virtual community with the places they have left, especially through social networks; and finally, in the most extreme cases, the subjects identify themselves in toto with transfer paths rather than with the places themselves, giving a new, more procedural and multiperspective, meaning to the term "origin".From a methodological point of view, this essay is inspired both by the classical tools of semiotics, in particular the visual semiotics of Louis Marin; and to parallel disciplinary approaches, like that of Gaston Bachelard and his "poetics of space"; and that of Philippe Descola and his "ontology of images". This openness to a "weak" interdisciplinarity, between highly related disciplines, aims to integrate into the semiotic analysis some aesthetic and anthropological valences of the corpus.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-68858-9_10

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