Reading the graphic surface

Download or read book Reading the graphic surface written by Glyn White and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2018-02-28 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book critically engages with the visual appearance of prose fiction where it is manipulated by authors, from alterations in typography to the deconstruction of the physical form of the book. It reappraises the range of effects it is possible to create through the use of graphic devices and explores why literary criticism has dismissed such features as either unreadable experimental gimmicks or, more recently, as examples of the worst kind of postmodern decadence. Through the examination of problematical texts which utilise the graphic surface in innovative and unusual ways, including Samuel Beckett’s Watt, B. S. Johnson’s Albert Angelo, Christine Brooke-Rose’s Thru and Alasdair Gray’s Lanark, this book demonstrates that an awareness of the graphic surface can make significant contributions to interpretation.