Publicação
Photography as a narrative model and theoretical basis: in Un monde sans rivage, by Hélène Gaudy
| Resumo: | This article explores the structural functions of photography in the narrative composition of Hélène Gaudy’s Un monde sans rivage(2019). First, we analyse the central role of Nils Strindberg’s photographic archive in shaping the narrative structure. The narrator’s attempt to reconstruct the story of Strindberg and his travel companions, August Andrée and Knut Frænkel – who ventured into the then-uncharted Arctic – arises directly from an engagement with Strindberg's photographic records. These photographs – damaged by time and ice, and recovered years after the explorers' disappearance – shape the narrative voice, which adopts a photographic imagination as a model, striving to echo the specific qualities of the images. Secondly, we consider how the photographs serve as a point of departure for a critique of expansionist thinking and a utilitarian perception of nature, which the travellers’ images, initially taken from a distant position, come to embody. Finally, we examine how, in contrast to this earlier model, the narrative presents the damaged photographs, along with their shadows and flaws, as a form of landscape representation that reveals the landscape on its own terms. |
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| Autores principais: | Carvalho Sexauer, Bárbara |
| Assunto: | diegesis Hélène Gaudy natural landscape photography shadow diegese fotografia Hélène Gaudy paisagem natural sombra |
| Ano: | 2025 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | artigo |
| Tipo de acesso: | unknown |
| Instituição associada: | CEComp — Centro de Estudos Comparatistas Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa |
| Idioma: | português |
| Origem: | Compendium: Journal of Comparative Studies | Revista de Estudos Comparatistas |
| Resumo: | This article explores the structural functions of photography in the narrative composition of Hélène Gaudy’s Un monde sans rivage(2019). First, we analyse the central role of Nils Strindberg’s photographic archive in shaping the narrative structure. The narrator’s attempt to reconstruct the story of Strindberg and his travel companions, August Andrée and Knut Frænkel – who ventured into the then-uncharted Arctic – arises directly from an engagement with Strindberg's photographic records. These photographs – damaged by time and ice, and recovered years after the explorers' disappearance – shape the narrative voice, which adopts a photographic imagination as a model, striving to echo the specific qualities of the images. Secondly, we consider how the photographs serve as a point of departure for a critique of expansionist thinking and a utilitarian perception of nature, which the travellers’ images, initially taken from a distant position, come to embody. Finally, we examine how, in contrast to this earlier model, the narrative presents the damaged photographs, along with their shadows and flaws, as a form of landscape representation that reveals the landscape on its own terms. |
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