On Writing with Photography
Karen Beckman and Liliane Weissberg
Abstract
From James Agee to W. G. Sebald, there has been an explosion of modern documentary narratives and fiction combining text and photography in complex and fascinating ways. However, these contemporary experiments are part of a tradition that stretches back to the early years of photography. Writers have been integrating photographs into their work for as long as photographs have existed, producing rich, multilayered creations; and photographers have always made images that incorporate, respond to, or function as writing. This book explores what happens to texts—and images—when they are brought to ... More
From James Agee to W. G. Sebald, there has been an explosion of modern documentary narratives and fiction combining text and photography in complex and fascinating ways. However, these contemporary experiments are part of a tradition that stretches back to the early years of photography. Writers have been integrating photographs into their work for as long as photographs have existed, producing rich, multilayered creations; and photographers have always made images that incorporate, respond to, or function as writing. This book explores what happens to texts—and images—when they are brought together. From the mid-nineteenth century to the present, this book addresses a wide range of genres and media, including graphic novels, children’s books, photo-essays, films, diaries, newspapers, and art installations. Examining the works of Herman Melville, Don DeLillo, Claude McKay, Man Ray, Dare Wright, Guy Debord, Zhang Ailing, and Roland Barthes, among others, the chapters trace the relationship between photographs and “reality” and describe the imaginary worlds constructed by both, discussing how this production can turn into testimony of personal and collective history, memory and trauma, gender and sexuality, and ethnicity.
Keywords:
James Agee,
W. G. Sebald,
documentary narratives,
photography,
images,
photo-essay,
children's books,
graphic novels,
art installation
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2013 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780816674695 |
| Published to Minnesota Scholarship Online: August 2015 |
DOI:10.5749/minnesota/9780816674695.001.0001 |
