Seeing ghosts : 9/11 and the visual imagination / Karen Engle.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Engle, Karen, 1974-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World Trade Center (New York, N.Y.)--Pictorial works.

World Trade Center (New York, N.Y.).

Documentary photography--Political aspects.

Documentary photography.

Documentary photography--Social aspects.

September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001--Pictorial works.

September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001.

Terrorism--New York (State)--New York--Pictorial works.

Terrorism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (192 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

On September 11 more people clicked "on documentary news photographs than on pornography for the first (and only) time in the history of the Internet," reports writer David Levi Strauss. The archive of images associated with the tragic events of 9/11 merits careful analysis. Artist Damien Hirst has suggested that the attacks were designed to be viewed - "The thing about 9/11 is that it's kind of an artwork in its own right. It was wicked, but it was devised in this way for this kind of impact. It was devised visually." Starting from the tremendous fascination with images of 9/11, Karen Engle asks what, in the context of a national trauma, makes an image appropriate or scandalous, exploring how diverse visual media have been mobilized in political projects of identification and personal narratives of empathy. Focusing on themes of memory, mourning, and history, Engle examines sculptural, photographic, and new media responses to the 9/11 attacks in both contemporary and historical contexts, considers the public's reaction to these visual productions, and suggests that earlier presentations of America at war play a pivotal role in the representations of 9/11 in both official and popular media. Seeing Ghosts is a groundbreaking theoretical study of how we remember, how we mourn, and how images of a particular event influence our imagination of the future.

Contents:

Introduction. The Perfect Image of the Lost

1. Tumbling Woman

2. Falling Man

3. Postcard Memories

4. The Face of a Terrorist

5. Mourning at Work, or Making Sense of 9/11.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612865817

9780773578210

0773578218

9781282865815

1282865811

9780773575264

077357526X

OCLC:

629720406