Location, Location, Location?

just stumbled across a rather interesting article by Julia Keller over at the Tribune about location in literature.  In her estimation, location plays a key role in shaping a body of literature and in attracting readers.  We Chicagoans, she says, love to see our city as the central location of a novel.

She’s probably right, but then again, the book she reviews in her article, C.J. Box’s Below Zero, sets up a conundrum for Chicago readers: it’s set both in the Windy City and in rural Wyoming.  Will Chicago readers be tempted to think of Wyoming as “their own personal recreational playground,” as Keller says they think of Wisconsin, or will the rural setting create a different kind of literary understanding of location around these two places?  The juxtaposition itself might make for an intersting read.

Keller makes serveral cogent, though possibly debatable points in her article, such as, “Critics often praise writers they like by saying their work is ‘timeless and universal.’ This always strikes me as a backhanded compliment. Because the best stories are the opposite: They happen at specific times and in unmistakable places. If the story is good enough, the reader ought to feel as if it couldn’t have happened anywhere else.”

Ah, but what about stories like Cinderella or A Christmas Carol whose popularity have stood the test of time precisely because of their ability to retain their meaning and ability to be evocative while being told hundreds of different ways throughout the ages?