Author Description

The essays in this volume are informed by a variety of theoretical assumptions and of critical methodologies, but they all share an interest in the intersections of word and image in a variety of media. This unifying rationale secures the present collection’s central position in the current critical context, defined as it predominantly is by ways of reading that are based on a relational nexus. The intertextual, the intermedial, the intersemiotic are indeed foregrounded and combined in these essays, conceptually as much as in the critical practices favoured by the various contributions. Studies of literature in its relation to pictorial genres enjoy a relative prominence in the volume – but the range of media and of approaches considered is broad enough to include photography, film, video, television, comic strips, animated film, public art, material culture. The backgrounds of contributors are likewise diverse – culturally, academically, linguistically. The volume combines contributions by prominent scholars and critics with essays by younger scholars, from a variety of backgrounds. The resulting plurality of perspective is indeed a source of new insights into the relations between writing and seeing, and it contributes to making this collection an exciting new contribution to word and image studies.