On the narrative potential of photobooks: an analysis of Alec Soth's Niagara's book

Visual narratives have a long history in the context of human cultural artifacts. In any sequence of images, the juxtaposition of visual signs gives rise to narrative potential. The narrative qualities of photographic images have been explored since its early days through the medium of the book. Bo...

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Autor principal: Alfredo Brant
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Publicado: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/d2023071c98c416e888d75876d6d3361
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:d2023071c98c416e888d75876d6d33612021-11-17T15:42:37ZOn the narrative potential of photobooks: an analysis of Alec Soth's Niagara's book10.14195/2182-8830_9-1_92182-8830https://doaj.org/article/d2023071c98c416e888d75876d6d33612021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://impactum-journals.uc.pt/matlit/article/view/9582https://doaj.org/toc/2182-8830 Visual narratives have a long history in the context of human cultural artifacts. In any sequence of images, the juxtaposition of visual signs gives rise to narrative potential. The narrative qualities of photographic images have been explored since its early days through the medium of the book. Borrowing the book artifact from literature, photography has adapted it for its own purposes. Such appropriation invites an examination of the strategies that are employed in photobooks to promote the emergence of narratives. Drawing upon the field of Narrative Studies and the concepts of storyworld and worldmaking, this paper investigates the narrative construction in the photobook Niagara (2006), produced by photographer Alec Soth. The paper demonstrates that certain strategies used in literary texts are analogous to the photobook space. In conclusion, I argue that photobooks are cultural objects that offer invaluable narrative possibilities, especially because they afford agency for the reader’s/viewer’s worldmaking. Alfredo BrantImprensa da Universidade de CoimbraarticlephotographynarrativestoryworldworldmakingphotobookLanguage and LiteraturePLiterature (General)PN1-6790ENESPTMatLit : Materialidades da Literatura, Vol 9, Iss 1 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
ES
PT
topic photography
narrative
storyworld
worldmaking
photobook
Language and Literature
P
Literature (General)
PN1-6790
spellingShingle photography
narrative
storyworld
worldmaking
photobook
Language and Literature
P
Literature (General)
PN1-6790
Alfredo Brant
On the narrative potential of photobooks: an analysis of Alec Soth's Niagara's book
description Visual narratives have a long history in the context of human cultural artifacts. In any sequence of images, the juxtaposition of visual signs gives rise to narrative potential. The narrative qualities of photographic images have been explored since its early days through the medium of the book. Borrowing the book artifact from literature, photography has adapted it for its own purposes. Such appropriation invites an examination of the strategies that are employed in photobooks to promote the emergence of narratives. Drawing upon the field of Narrative Studies and the concepts of storyworld and worldmaking, this paper investigates the narrative construction in the photobook Niagara (2006), produced by photographer Alec Soth. The paper demonstrates that certain strategies used in literary texts are analogous to the photobook space. In conclusion, I argue that photobooks are cultural objects that offer invaluable narrative possibilities, especially because they afford agency for the reader’s/viewer’s worldmaking.
format article
author Alfredo Brant
author_facet Alfredo Brant
author_sort Alfredo Brant
title On the narrative potential of photobooks: an analysis of Alec Soth's Niagara's book
title_short On the narrative potential of photobooks: an analysis of Alec Soth's Niagara's book
title_full On the narrative potential of photobooks: an analysis of Alec Soth's Niagara's book
title_fullStr On the narrative potential of photobooks: an analysis of Alec Soth's Niagara's book
title_full_unstemmed On the narrative potential of photobooks: an analysis of Alec Soth's Niagara's book
title_sort on the narrative potential of photobooks: an analysis of alec soth's niagara's book
publisher Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/d2023071c98c416e888d75876d6d3361
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