FR2107 The Illustrated Text

2018-9 Terms 1 and 2

Assessment:

Formative commentary; moodle tests (10%); coursework essay (30%); exam (60%)

This half-unit option will explore some of the different ways in which books across the centuries have provided a creative space for the text to interact with visual images. From hand-painted medieval illuminated manuscripts to the first printed volumes of the fifteenth century, and from engravings, woodcuts and lithographs to photographs and contemporary bandes dessinées, the illustrated text is a mirror of the evolution of artistic and printing techniques. While considering some key instances of this development, the course will also address such questions as what makes illustrations of literary works different from the illustrations of other kinds of text, such as instruction manuals or scientific books. Is the function of illustrations in literary works essentially to entertain, or do they provide information to complement or even change the text’s message? To what extent do specific literary genres such as poetry, prose and drama require different approaches to illustration? Should an author’s own illustrations be treated differently to those of another artist? And to what extent is the text/image relationship of a book illustrated during the author’s lifetime different to that of a book illustrated posthumously?

The course will typically focus on a selection of the following: • Books illustrated by their author •    Successive illustrations of major novels •    Collaborations between poets and artists • The Surrealist collaborative novel • Livres d’artiste • The play and its frontispiece • Le photo-roman • Ekphrasis (literature inspired by visual images) • La bande dessinée • Children’s books • Digital texts • Contemporary French digital poetry