Photo-texts: Contemporary French Writing of the Photographic Image (Contemporary French & Francophone Cultures) (Volume 14)

In today’s image-saturated society, photograph and text live side-by-side, engaged in a complex collaboration. Andy Stafford critically examines this interplay in Photo-texts, taking nine case studies from the 1990s French-speaking world and looking at the interaction between non-fictional written texts (caption, essay, fragment, poem) and photographic images. The “photo-text,” as he defines it, is concerned as much with the oral as it is with visual and written culture. That text-image collaborations give space to the spoken, spectral traces of spoken human discourse suggests that the key element of the photo-text is its radical provisionality—that it is inherently unstable and ever-changing. This pathbreaking study offers a vital resource for scholars in contemporary French and francophone cultures. La quatrième page de couverture indique : "What do photographs want? Do they need any accompaniment in today's imagesaturated society? Can Writing inflect photography (or vice versa) in such a way that neither medium takes precedence? Or are they in constant, inexorable battle with each other Other?. Taking nine case studies from the 1990s' French-speaking world (from France, North Africa and the Caribbean), this book attempts to define the interaction between non-fictional written text (caption, essay, fragment, poem) and photographic image. Having considered three categories of ̀intermediality' between text and photography-the collaborative, the self-collaborative and the retrospective-the book concludes that the dimensions of their interaction are not simple and twofold (Visuality versus/alongside textuality), but threefold and therefore ̀complex' Thus, the photo-text, as defined here, is concerned as much with orality-the demotic, the popular, the vernacular-as it is with visual and written culture, the way in which text-image collaborations give space to the spoken, spectral traces of human discourse suggests that the key element of the photo-text is its radical provisionality." What do photographs want? Do they need any accompaniment in today's image-saturated society? Can writing inflect photography (or vice versa) in such a way that neither medium takes precedence? Or are they in constant, inexorable battle with each other? Taking nine case studies from the 1990s French-speaking world (from France, North Africa and the Caribbean), this book attempts to define the interaction between non-fictional written text (caption, essay, fragment, poem) and photographic image. Having considered three categories of 'intermediality' between text and photography - the collaborative, the self-collaborative and the retrospective - the book concludes that the dimensions of their interaction are not simple and two-fold (visuality versus/alongside textuality), but threefold and therefore 'complex'. Thus, the photo-text, as defined here, is concerned as much with orality - the demotic, the popular, the vernacular - as it is with visual and written culture. That text-image collaborations give space to the spoken, spectral traces of human discourse, suggests that the key element of the photo-text is its radical provisionality. Taking nine case studies from the 1990s' French-speaking world (from France, North Africa and the Caribbean), this book attempts to define the interaction between non-fictional written text (caption, essay, fragment, poem) and photographic image. Having considered three categories of ̀intermediality' between text and photography-the collaborative, the self-collaborative and the retrospective-the book concludes that the dimensions of their interaction are not simple and twofold (Visuality versus/alongside textuality), but threefold and therefore ̀complex' Thus, the photo-text, as defined here, is concerned as much with orality-the demotic, the popular, the vernacular-as it is with visual and written culture, the way in which text-image collaborations give space to the spoken, spectral traces of human discourse suggests that the key element of the photo-text is its radical provisionality. --Book Jacket What do photographs want? Do they need any accompaniment in today's imagesaturated Saturated Society? Can Writing inflect photography (or vice versa) in such a way that neither medium takes precedence? Or are they in constant, inexorable battle with each other Other? j.ctt5vjn5p.1 j.ctt5vjn5p.2 j.ctt5vjn5p.3 j.ctt5vjn5p.4 j.ctt5vjn5p.5 j.ctt5vjn5p.6 j.ctt5vjn5p.7 j.ctt5vjn5p.8 j.ctt5vjn5p.9 j.ctt5vjn5p.10 j.ctt5vjn5p.11 j.ctt5vjn5p.12 j.ctt5vjn5p.13 j.ctt5vjn5p.14 j.ctt5vjn5p.15 j.ctt5vjn5p.16 j.ctt5vjn5p.17 j.ctt5vjn5p.18