Visible Writings - 9780813548838

"This vastly learned, superbly illustrated collection has not a dull text within it. I was enlightened and fascinated by every essay on every topic. Visible Writings is a book to treasure."-Mary Ann Caws, Distinguished Professor of English, French, and Comparative Literature, The Graduate Center, CUNY

"This is an imaginative collection of tightly argued, well-researched pieces that expose the multiple dimensions of all that makes writing visible. Addressing many forms and formats, the book makes excellent---and entertaining---reading!"-Johanna Drucker, Breslauer Professor of Bibliographical Studies, UCLA

Exploring the concept and history of visual and graphic epistemologies, this multicultural collection provides insights into the many forms of connection between visibility and legibility. With more than 130 color and black-and-white photographs, Visible Writings sheds new light on the visual dimensions of writing and on its interaction with images, analyzing their effects on our experiences of reading and seeing.

Whether they consider literature, art, or other objects, these essays reach outside traditional disciplinary venues to encompass domains as diverse as the history and anthropology of writing, philosophy of language, and the emerging area of visual studies. Together, they offer to anyone interested in the relationships between texts and images a prism through which to follow the subtle play of connections within and around the written sign.