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The Picture as Spectre in Diderot, Proust, and Deleuze

Baldwin, Thomas (2011) The Picture as Spectre in Diderot, Proust, and Deleuze. Legenda, Oxford, 144 pp. ISBN 978-1-907625-03-9. (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:30089)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.

Abstract

The possibility of ekphrasis — the verbal representation of visual imagery — is fundamental to all writing about art, be it art criticism, theory, or a passage in a novel. But there is no consensus concerning how such representation works. Some take it for granted that writing about art can result in a precise match between words and visual images. For others, ekphrasis amounts to a kind of virtuoso rivalry, in which the writer aims to outdo the pictorial image that is being described. In close readings of Diderot, Proust, and Deleuze, Baldwin shows how ekphrasis can create a ‘spectral’ effect. In other words, ekphrastic ‘spectres’ do not function as fully present ‘stand-ins’ for given works of art; nor can they be reduced to the status of passive or absent others. Baldwin also explores the ways in which the works of Diderot, Proust, and Deleuze inhabit each other as ghostly influences.

Item Type: Book
Subjects: P Language and Literature > PQ Romance Literature > PQ1 French Literature
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Culture and Languages
Depositing User: Thomas Baldwin
Date Deposited: 13 Aug 2012 10:12 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:08 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/30089 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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