Photopoetry 1845-2015: A Critical History

(Paperback)

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Description

From amateur experiments in scrapbooks and stereographs to contemporary photobook collaborations between leading practitioners, poets and photographers have created an art form that continues to evolve and deserves critical exploration. Photopoetry 1845-2015: A Critical History represents the first account of this challenging and diverse body of work. Nott traces the development of photopoetic collaboration from its roots in 19th-century illustrative practices to the present day. Focusing on work from the UK and US, he examines how and why poets and photographers collaborate, and explores the currents of exchange and engagement between poems and photographs on the page. The book not only considers canonical figures, but brings to light forgotten practitioners whose work questioned and shaped the relationship between word and image. Photopoetry 1845-2015, a Critical History provides a new lens through which to explore poetry, photography, and the spaces between them.

Reviews

Impressive in its scope and depth, Photopoetry, 1845-2015 is a landmark work. At once accessible and scholarly, this book will appeal to anyone with an interest in poetry, photography, and links between them. * Robert Crawford, Professor of Modern Scottish Literature and Bishop Wardlaw Professor of Poetry, University of St Andrews, UK *
Michael Nott offers the first ever extended history of photopoetry from its fascinating origins in Victorian photobooks and scrapbooks through to sophisticated symbiotic productions by poets and photographers of the modern and contemporary periods. This ambitious study brings to light a range of little known photopoetic material. His astute theoretical discriminations among evolving collaborative productions by poets and photographers make a strong case for a genre that will excite scholars and creative practitioners alike. A work that makes an original contribution to the field of image/text studies. * David Kinloch, Professor of Poetry and Creative Writing, University of Strathclyde, UK *

Author Bio

Michael Nott is a postdoctoral fellow at University College Cork, Ireland.