Copyright by Laura Mareike Sager 2006 - The University of Texas at ...

to musical ekphrasis, I allege that the literary and filmic rendering of a painting
“correspond to a degree that justifies adapting the terminology of ekphrasis
developed in the literary field” (“Concert” 559). In Chapter Two I will therefore
develop and discuss a system of ekphrastic categories and discuss how they apply
to literary texts as well as to films. With the help of these categories, I describe
varying forms and degrees of ekphrasis in order to provide and illustrate a
vocabulary for analyzing the similarities and differences of ekphrasis in literature
and film. This vocabulary refers to ways in which authors and filmmakers can use
the visual arts as well as to degrees of involvement with them. In comparing the
use of ekphrasis in three literary genres and film, I will show what different types
of ekphrasis predominate in each genre and why, and what the predominance of
certain categories implies with regard to the relationship between words and
images in film and literary texts. As these comparisons will demonstrate, filmic
ekphrases often reveal similar power structures as those of literary texts, despite
the fact that cinema is a hybrid genre itself. Analyzing the similarities and
differences between literary and filmic ekphrasis, then, will provide insight into
the various dynamics of words and images in different genres. Furthermore, in
discussing ekphrasis as a form of reception, this comparison will also highlight
the ways in which popular, well-known works of high art are received in other
high art media (poetry, novels, and drama) as well as popular culture (here
represented by film).
As a segue into the discussion of these categories and their application to
film, I discuss the German photographer Thomas Struth’s series of Museum
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