Black and white composition: the friction between photography, literature, and fiction

• Grant number: 22/01515-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: June 01, 2022
• End date: March 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Comparative Literature
• Principal Investigator: Eduardo Sterzi de Carvalho Júnior
• Grantee: Pedro Gomes Dias Brito
• Host Institution: Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem (IEL). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/02080-6 - Black and White Composition: The Friction Between Photography, Literature, and Fiction, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

This project has been guided by the following question: how can a redefining of the state of fiction be informed, at once, by an analysis of works combining photography and literature, and by the clashing tendencies of contemporary thought? In attempting to determine so, we will examine the point of articulation between two axes. The first, eminently theoretical, will consist of revisiting the matter of fiction by collating the works of contemporary scholars in the fields of photography -for instance, Philippe Dubois-, Social Sciences -such as Ivan Jablonka-, and literary theory -such as Wolfgang Iser and Luiz Costa Lima. In the second axis, we will structure our research around the critical necessity of aligning such theoretical interrogations to a mode of tangible, specific examination of the works that challenge the very constitution of fiction. We shall focus this study, therefore, on two books comprised of both literary text and photography: Some Thing Black [Quelque chose noir], by Jacques Roubaud, and Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, by James Agee e Walker Evans. (AU)