Poetics of the Iconotext
Written by Liliane Louvel, professor emeritus at the 勛圖厙 of Poitiers; Edited by Karen Jacobs, associate professor of English at CU; Translated by Laurence Petit, Universit矇 Paul Val矇ry-Monpellier
Poetics of the Iconotext makes available for the first time in English the theories of the respected French text/image specialist, Professor Liliane Louvel. A consolidation of the most significant theoretical materials of Louvels two acclaimed books, LOeil du Texte: Texte et image dans la litt矇rature anglophone and Texte/Image: Images lire, textes voir, this newly conceived work introduces English readers to the most current thinking in French text/image theory and visual studies.
Focusing on the full spectrum of text/image relations, from medieval illuminated manuscripts to digital books, Louvel begins by introducing key terms and situating her work in the context of significant debates in text/image studies. Part II introduces Louvels s typology of pictorial saturation through which she establishes a continuum along which to measure the effect of the most figurative to the most literal images upon writerly and readerly textual spaces.
Part III adopts a phenomenological approach towards the reading-viewing experience as expressed in conceptual categories that include the trace, focal range, synesthesia and rhythm and speed. The result is a provocative interplay of the categorical and the subjective that invites readers to think at once more precisely and more inventively about texts, images and the intersections between the two.