‘The Carte de Tendre or the ‘Map of Tender Love’ appeared in the 17th Century novel Clélie by
Madeleine de Scudéry. It is an allegorical love map, ‘a set of instructions in love. The lover who
reads such a map is, at it were, travelling on the body of his or her love.’[1] ‘The country is
bisected by the Inclination a river that runs south to north, joined by two smaller rivers, Respect
and Gratitude before plunging into La mer dangereuse, the Dangerous Sea (unbridled emotions)
which is separated from a reef-ridden narrows, the Terres inconnues, Unknown Land.’[2] The
eroticised body is fleshed out so to speak in the form of a landscape, a libidinal topography of
het-erogenous zones. In The Book of Disquiet Pessoa mentions the Tender Map in relation to a
‘geography of our consciousness’ suggesting reality is a complex equivalent to ‘complicated
coastlines, lakes and rugged mountains.’ [3]

1] Gandelman, Claude, Reading Pictures Viewing Texts, Indiana University Press: Bloomington and Indianapolis, USA 1991 p.81/89

2] Image reproduced and text from https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/245-loves-topography-la-carte-de-tendre/ (accessed 25/07/12)

3] Pessoa Fernando, The Book of Disquiet, Ed. Lancastre Maria José de, Trans. Costa Margaret Jull, Serpent’s Tail: London 1991, p.147