Ekphrasis as an Analytical Mode in Biography: Finding Vida Lahey's Romantic Character
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Author(s)
Lovell, Susan
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2013
Metadata
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This paper studies the earliest known extant work by Vida Lahey, Souvenir of the West Coast, as a means for the biographer to imagine how her character may be better understood through it. After outlining biography's epistemological terrain, I argue that the hybridity of biographical narrative lends itself to ekphrasis as biographical method. With a keen awareness of W. J. Mitchell's recognition that ekphrasis is a relationship of power, knowledge, and desire in the field of representation, an image from Souvenir is then used to test the method related argument and demonstrate Lahey's Romantic character.This paper studies the earliest known extant work by Vida Lahey, Souvenir of the West Coast, as a means for the biographer to imagine how her character may be better understood through it. After outlining biography's epistemological terrain, I argue that the hybridity of biographical narrative lends itself to ekphrasis as biographical method. With a keen awareness of W. J. Mitchell's recognition that ekphrasis is a relationship of power, knowledge, and desire in the field of representation, an image from Souvenir is then used to test the method related argument and demonstrate Lahey's Romantic character.
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Journal Title
a/b: Auto/Biography Studies
Volume
28
Issue
2
Copyright Statement
© 2013 Routledge. This is an electronic version of an article published in a/b: Auto/Biography Studies, Vol. 28(2), 2013, pp. 273-295. Asia Pacific Business Review is available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com with the open URL of your article.
Subject
Biography
Studies in Creative Arts and Writing not elsewhere classified
Cultural Studies
Literary Studies
Historical Studies