ENGL 74.05 Word-Image Theory
Words in dialogue with images pervade our textual landscape in the form of advertisements, comics, instructional diagrams, and photo essays, and the entanglement of symbol systems once thought of as separate has become routine in digital display. Word-image theory seeks to understand these entanglements, analyzing the conceptual intersections of the literary and the visual. In this seminar, students will be invited to re-conceptualize those intersections by becoming familiar with the core arguments of word-image studies, iconology, picture theory, and visual culture studies. Creative authors may include Chris Ware, Claudia Rankine, and W.G. Sebald, and critical authors may include Panofsky, Barthes, Foucault, Mitchell, and Bal.
Department-Specific Course Categories
Senior Seminar: Course Group IV