French Literature Reviews - 2026
Serge Zenkine, Imago in Fabula. L’image intradiégétique dans la littérature et le cinéma
Comparative and World Literature
Serge Zenkine
Imago in Fabula. L’image intradiégétique dans la littérature et le cinéma
Paris, Classiques Garnier, coll. « Théorie de la littérature », no. 33, 2025.
In 19th- and 20th-century literary and cinematic narratives, a visual image (painting, sculpture, photograph, etc.) can function as a fully fledged character within the fiction. Its forms and narrative functions are examined from a theoretical and comparative perspective.
Also available in a hardcover edition - EAN 9782406188117 - priced at 98 EUR.
The presence of visual artworks within narrative texts represents a long-standing formal device connecting the verbal and the visual arts. In both nineteenth- and twentieth-century European literature and cinema, embedded representations such as paintings, photographs, and sculptures frequently intersect with plot development and character dynamics. Scholarly traditions in narratology and media studies have long explored how these internal representations create metafictional commentary, alter narrative pacing, and blur the boundaries between different semiotic systems. Analyzing these devices requires careful attention to the interplay between narrative structure and visual description across diverse aesthetic mediums.
Serge Zenkine examines the forms and narrative functions of visual images functioning as characters within fiction, approaching the subject from a theoretical and comparative perspective. In 19th- and 20th-century literary and cinematic narratives, a visual image can function as a fully fledged character within the fiction. Readers interested in narratology, intermediality studies, and the relations between literature and film may find this volume relevant to their research.