Download or read book Zone of the Marvellous written by Martin Edmond and published by Auckland University Press. This book was released on 2013-11-01 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imaginative and cerebral, this volume recounts the fantastic history of the antipodes—namely Australia and New Zealand—from the Western perspective over the course of the past five millennia. Tracing the fiction underlying the fact in the tales of, among others, Marco Polo, John Mandeville, and Thomas More, this remarkable compilation explores the imagination of travelers, writers, map-makers, charlatans, and rogues who dreamed of other worlds. Delving into the Australian character and the New Zealand psyche, this account also conveys an insightful glimpse into Western history.