WORD, IMAGE, BOOK
WRIT 5OO1
Instructor: Amy England                                                                                                                     


Description:

In what ways are text and image dependent on each other?  In what ways can the relationship between them be pushed, made more surprising?  We will explore this spectrum of relationships  through a variety of source material and creative exercises.   Every two weeks or so, students will produce either a creative exercise based on the most recent reading, or a two-page response paper on that text.  Please bring enough copies for everyone (black and white xeroxes are fine, no matter how elaborate the originals).  Your fellow students will then have a week to read over and write comments on the work before we discuss it in class.  Students are expected not to miss more than two classes.  
    Aside from the exercises and discussions of the readings, you will be asked as a final project  to produce a short book, or similarly integrated artefact of creative work, and the work must incorporate both textual and visual elements in some way.  You may choose to work collaboratively with someone in the visual arts, or to do all of the work yourself.  Keep in mind that if you are not a visual artist, you are not expected to become one suddenly; the important thing is the relationship you create between the two media.  While you may incorporate the exercises you have already done, you should develop and expand on these ideas. Besides the texts we will read in class, you might find ideas from any number of sources: comic books and graphic novels, illuminated manuscripts, advertisements, electronic media, field guides, scientific illustrations and diagrams, etc.  
    If you have any special needs that may require accommodations or if you will miss a class because of a religious holiday, please contact the instructor by the third week of class.


Required Books:
The Art of Zen: Paintings and Calligraphy, Stephen Addis, Harry N. Abrams
The Illustrated Books of William Blake, v. 1: Jerusalem, Princeton UP
Ubu Roi, Alfred Jarry, Barbara Wright trans., Franciszka Themerson, illus., New Directions
The Rape of the Lock, Alexander Pope, illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley, Dover
Vertigo, W. G. Sebald, New Directions
Illuminated Manuscripts: Treasures of the Pierpont Morgan, William Voelkle, et al. Abbeville Press.
Source Codes, Susan Wheeler, New Salt Press



Week I: 1/30 Introduction, history of illustration for Pope’s “Rape of the Lock”

Week II: 2/6 Pope, Dover edition, all.  Assignment: a single page of illustrated text

Week III: 2/13 Blake, introduction and cantos 1-33, with corresponding plates, response paper
 
Week IV: 2/20 Blake, cantos 34-67 and plates.  Assignment: design for a printer’s plate

Week V: 2/27 Blake, cantos 68-100 and plates, response paper.  Library, artists’ book room, 11:00

Week VI: 3/6 Voelkle.  Assignment: a bound object

Week VII:3/13 Voelkle.  Assignment: the illuminated manuscript

Week VIII: 3/20, Addis, intro and chapters 1-3, response paper

Week IX: 3/27, Addis, chapters 4-7.  Assignment: writing and drawing as the same action

Week X: 4/3 Susan Wheeler, all, response paper

Week XI: 4/10 assignment: collage.  Susan Wheeler’s reading

Week XII: 4/17 Sebald, chapters 1, 2, 3, response paper

Week XIII: 4/24 Sebald, chapter 4.  Assignment: image-generated text

Week XIV: 5/1 Jarry, response paper

Week XV: 5/8 Presentation of final projects




SUPPLEMENTAL READING LIST

Addis, Stephen.  Takebe Socho and the Haiga Tradition. University of Hawaii Press. Haiga is the Japanese tradition of combining haiku and paiting.
    
Ashbery, John. Girls on the Run. Farar, Straus and Giroux, 1999. Based on the paintings of Henry Darger, see below.

-----.  The Vermont Notebook. With Joe Brainard. Granary Books. Ashberry writing in collaboration with visual artist.

Backhouse, Janet. The Illuminated Manuscript. Phaidon.

------. The Lindisfarne Gospels. Phaidon.

Bantock, Nick. The Griffin and Sabine Trilogy, The Museum at Purgatory, Urgent 2nd Class (on making collage), Chronicle Books.  

Barnes, Djuna. The Book of Repulsive Women: 8 Rhythms and 5 Drawings. Sun and Moon Classics, 1994.

Barnes, Julian. A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters. New York: Vintage International, 1989.  Different retellings of Noah and the flood, including commentary on Gericault’s painting on the wreck of the Medusa, reprinted in the book.

Barthes, Roland. Empire of Signs. Richard Howard, translator.  New York: Hill and Wang, 1982.A semiotic reading of Japanese culture, employing photographs.

—.  Mythologies.

Bashō. Back Roads to Far Towns: Bashō’s Oku-no-hosomichi. Cid Corman and Kamaike Susumu, translators. Illustrated by Hayakawa Ikutada.  Hopewell, NJ: Ecco Press, 1968.

Bergen, Brooke. Storyville: A Hidden Mirror. Wakefield, RI: Asphodel Press, 1994.  Group of poems about the red light district in New Orleans, using and responding to Ernest Bellocq’s photographs.

Berssenbrugge, Mei Mei: Endocrinology.  Kiki Smith, illustrator.  Berkeley: Kelsey Street, 1997.  Kelsey Street specializes in collaborative projects between writers and visual artists.

----: Sphericity. Richard Tuttle, illustrator.  Berkeley: Kelsey Street, 1993.

Blake, William. The Illuminated Books, Volume 1: Jerusalem, edited by Morton D. Paley. Volume 2: Songs of Innocence and Experience, edited by Andrew Lincoln.  Volume 3: The Book of Thel and Volume 4: The Continental Prophecies, edited by D. W. Dörrbecker. Volume 5: Milton a Poem, edited by Robert N. Essick and Joseph Viscomi. Volume 6: The Urizen Books, edited by David Worrall.  Also: The Complete Illuminated Books. Princeton UP.

----. Songs of Experience and Songs of Innocence. Facsimile edition. New York: Dover Publications, 1971.

Bocksay, Georg and Joris Hoefnagel. Nature Illuminated: Flora and Fauna from the Court of the Emperor Rudolf II.  Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum.

Brasil, Emanuel and William Jay Smith, editors. Brazilian Poetry 1950-1980.  Middleton, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1983. Includes many examples of visual poetry.

Breton, Andre: Mad Love. Prose, hard to categorize (prose poetry?  manifesto?) with photographs.  University of Nebraska Press.  

----.  Nadja. Novel-memoir with photographs. Grove Press.  

----.  Young Cherry Trees Secured Against Hares. Edward Roditi, translator. New York: View Editions, 1946. Cover by Marcel Duchamp, with illustrations by Arshile Gorky.

Carroll, Lewis. Alice in Wonderland. Illustrated by John Tenniel. The Annotated Alice (notes by Martin Gardner, published by Bramhall House) gives some background on the illustrations.

Clowes, Daniel. David Boring. New York: Pantheon, 2000.  Graphic novel.

-----. Ghost World. Fantagraphics Books, 1997

-----. Ice Haven. Pantheon.

Conjunctions #32: Eye to Eye: Writers and Artists. Bradford Morrow, editor.

Darger, Henry, and Michael Bonesteel. Henry Darger: Art and Selected Writings. Rizolli, 2000.  See also: John McGregror’s Henry Darger: In the Realms of the Unreal,  Delano Greenidge Editions 2002, and John Ashbery’s Girls on the Run, an ekphrastic poem on Darger’s work.

Davenport, Guy. Objects on a Table: Harmonious Disarray in Art and Literature. Washington, DC: Counterpoint, 1998.  An example of art criticism, includes plates.  

Dobbs, J. R.  The Book of the SubGenius: Being the Divine Wisdom, Guidance, and Prophecy of J. R. ‘Bob’ Dobbs, High Epopt of the Church of the SubGenius. Simon and Schuster, 1987.  Combines pop imagery and cult icons.

Drescher, Henrik. Turbulence.  Chronicle Books.  Collage-painting that includes text.

Drucker, Joanna. A Century of Artists’ Books. Granary Press.

Eisner, Will. Comics and Sequential Art. Poorhouse Press

Ekelöf, Gunnar. A Mölna Elegy.  Translated by Muriel Rukeyser and Leif Sjöberg.  Greensboro, NC: Unicorn Press, 1984.  Poems, includes some marginal drawings.

Ernst, Max. Une Semaine de Bonté, collage novel, Dover. The Hundred Headless Women. Collage as with Une Semaine de Bonté, but includes text.

----. A Little Girl Dreams of Taking the Veil.  George Braziller, 1982, as above.

Frankel, Nicholas. Oscar Wilde’s Decorated Books. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 2000.    

French, Calvin L., et. al. The Poet-painters: Buson and His Followers. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1974.

Giscombe, C. S. Giscome Road. Normal, Ill: Dalkey Archive, 1998.  Poems, incorporating maps.

Gordon, Karen Elizabeth. Paris out of Hand: A Wayward Guide. With Barbara Hodgeson and Nick Bantock. Chronicle Books.

Guest, Barbara.  Stripped Tales. Berkeley: Kelsey Street Press, 1995.  Poems, with paintings by Anne Dunn.

—. Symbiosis. Poems, with artwork by Laurie Reid. Berkeley: Kelsy Street Press, 2000.

Halsbad, Robert. The Rape of the Lock and Its Illustrators: 1714-1896. London: Oxford UP, 1980.

Heffernan, James A. W. Museum of Words: The Poetics of Ekphrasis from Homer to Ashbery. University of Chicago Press.

Hemon, Aleksandar. The Question of Bruno. New York: Doubleday, 2000.  Short stories.
        
Howe, Susan. Frame Structures: Early Poems 1974-1979.  New York: New Directions, 1996.  Uses engravings, paintings, visual elements in text, etc.
    
----.  Pierce Arrow. New York: New Directions, 1999.  Poems, include photos, drawings, facsimile pages, etc.

Jarnot, Lisa. Some Other Kind of Mission. Poems with collages.

Johnson, Pauline. Creative Bookbinding. NY, NY: Dover.  

Jones, David. The Anathemeta: Fragments of an Attempted Writing.  Boston: Faber and Faber, 1952.  Includes some of Jones’ paintings.

Kelly, Robert. The Book of Persephone. New York: Treacle Press, 1978.  Poems, includes some monochrome pictures, hard to find.

Kwo, Da-Wei. Chinese Brushwork in Calligraphy and Painting.  Dover Publications.

LaPlantz, Shereen. Cover to Cover: Creative Techniques for Making Books, Journals and Albums. Ashville, NC: Lark Books, 1995.

Lear, Edward. The Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear. New York: Dover, 1951.

Mathews, Harry. Selected Declarations of Dependence. Illustrated by Alex Katz.  Los Angeles: Sun and Moon Press, 1996. Various derangements of popular sayings.

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. Harper Collins.

Michaux, Henri. Meidosems. Santa Cruz, CA: Moving Parts Press, 1992. Translated by Elizabeth Jackson. Prose poems and lithographs by the author.

Miller, Frank. Sin City (graphic novel series). Dark Horse Books.

Navarre, Joan. The Publishing History of Aubrey Beardsley’s Compositions for Oscar Wilde’s Salome. Dissertation.

Olson, Mary. Fair and Varied Forms: Visual Textuality in Medieval Illustrated Manuscripts.  Rutledge, 2002.

Osman, Jena. The Character. Boston: Beacon Press, 1999. Poems using unusual typography and elements of the periodic table.

Paz, Octovio. Sunstone. Eliot Weinberger, translator. New York: New Directions, 1987. Long poem, using reproductions of native Mexican calenders.

Phillips, Tom: A Humanment: A Treated Victorian Novel. Thames and Hudson.

Robbe-Grillet, Alain. La Belle Captive: A Novel. Ben Stoltzfus, translator. With paintings by René Magritte. Berkeley: U of California P, 1995.  

Rosenfield, John. Mynah Birds and Flying Rocks: Word and Image in the Art of Yosa Buson. Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas

Salomon, Charlotte. Leven? or Theater? with contributions of Judith C.E. Belinfante; Christine Fischer-Defoy; Ad Petersen; Norman Rosenthal. Translated by Leila Vennewitz. Zowolle; Amsterdam: Waanders Publishers; Jewish Historical Museum; Charlotte Salomon Foundation, 1998.  This publication includes four introductory essays and the reproductions of 769 gouaches with Charlotte Salomon's texts, translated in English.

Sebald, W. G. The Rings of Saturn, Vertigo, Austerlitz and The Emigrants. Translated by Michael Hulse. New York: New Directions.

Sibley, David Allen. The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of North America. Knopf

Smith, Keith A. Non-Adhesive Binding: Books Without Paste or Glue, Volume 1. Rochester, NY: Keith A. Smith, 1993.

Spiegelman, Art. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale. New York: Random House, 1986.

Sterne, Lawrence. Tristram Shandy. Famous for its “marbled page” and “black page.”

Thurber, James. The Beast in Me and Other Animals. Harvest Books 1973.

----. Fables for Our Time and Fabulous Poems Illustrated. Harper Collins, 1990.

----. My Life and Hard Times. The Harper Perennial Library, 1999.

----. The Owl in the Attic and Other Perplexities. New York: Grosset and Dulap, 1931.

Timothy McSweeney’s, issue no. 4, late winter 2000. The “cover art issue,” includes “Notes and Backgrounds and Clarifying Charts” and Paul Maliszewski’s “Paperback Nabakov.”
            
Tomasula, Steve. Vas: An Opera of Flatland. Art by Steve Farrell. Station Hill Press.

The Tres Riches Heures of Jean, the Duke of Berry. George Braziller.

Ware, Chris. The Adventures of Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth. Graphic novel. Pantheon Books.

Wright, C. D.  Just Whistle.  Photographs by Deborah Luster. Berkeley: Kelsey Street Press, 1993. Poetry.

Xu Bing, Britta Erickson. The Art of Xu Bing: Words Without Meaning, Meaning Without Words.  Freer Gallery of Art. Xu Bing’s visual art often uses marks that look like text but aren’t, or make use of the visual aspects of Chinese characters.

Illustrators: Gustav Doré, Edmond Dulac, Rockwell Kent, Kay Nielson, Arthur Rackham, N. C. Wyeth, William Hogarth



© 2014 Amy England, rights reserved