Picture Theory: Essays on Verbal and Visual Representation

By W.J. Thomas Mitchell

Book Overview

What precisely, W. J. T. Mitchell asks, are pictures (and theories of pictures) doing now, in the late twentieth century, when the power of the visual is said to be greater than ever before, and the "pictorial turn" supplants the "linguistic turn" in the study of culture? This book by one of America's leading theorists of visual representation offers a rich account of the interplay between the visible and the readable across culture, from literature to visual art to the mass media.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226532321
• ISBN13: 9780226532325
• Release Date: September 1995
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 462 Pages
• Weight: 1.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.2" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A classic

This book has to be considered as a classic in the field. Ironically, Mitchell's term 'pictorial turn' seems to be more widespread than knowledge of this book, with the unsettling consequence that many people talk about pictures *replacing* the word, and few about the intricate and complex relationship between the two.The book is surprisingly well written, rarely has an academic book entertained me so much. For everybody who wants to know what *pictorial turn* means from the point of view of the person who coined this phrase, I can only recommend it warmest.