Framing the Text: An Investigation of Collage in Postmodern Narrative Illustration Joanne Halse Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS OSCH April 2006 Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za Declaration I, the undersigned, hereby declare that the work contained in this thesis is my own original work and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it at any university for a degree. Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za Abstract Collage, as a verbal and visual medium, epitomises the heterogeneity, indeterminacy and fragmentation of the postmodern moment. In this thesis I argue that visual collage - in the context of book illustration - presents an ideal form with which to illustrate the state of contemporary (postmodern) narrative. Postmodernism, as a term or concept, evades any form of absolute or definitive account. Hence, in my discussion of the postmodern condition I move towards an understanding of this complex theoretical and cultural phenomenon. Postmodern cultural artifacts reflect the state of a modernised, Western-orientated, globalised consciousness, which resists arborescent structures in past and contemporary texts. In both postmodern narratives and in literary fictional narratives the condition of artifice is amplified. Thus, this thesis explores various characteristics evident in postmodern fiction in order to understand and demonstrate the changes manifest in contemporary narratives in general. Many of the stylistic and figurative devices employed in the postmodern novel foreground the excessive appropriation and self-reflexive textualism of contemporary texts - these literary devices often reflect particular collage-like tendencies or characteristics. Contemporary literary theory, in addition, provides many useful terms and concepts with which to describe visual texts and, for the purposes of this discussion, narrative illustration. This thesis is centred primarily on an analysis of the practical component completed as part of the Master of Arts degree in Fine Arts. The discussion of the practical work is embedded in the wider fields of book art - particularly the postmodern artist's book (livre detourne) - and in contentious debates around the role of visual narrative illustration. In both the thesis and the illustrated book objects, I challenge the secondary and supplementary position traditionally held by illustration in the context of the book. I argue for a form of visual narrative that is not required to function as a mere translation of the primary verbal text. Instead - working within the context of the artist's book and through the utilisation of collage as a visual (and verbal) medium - I demonstrate that illustration may complement, supplement or subvert the written text. Furthermore, I show that illustration may assume the role of the primary text in the context of the codex. Finally, this study creates a space for a creative and participatory reader who, through the intertextual processes made evident in the book objects, becomes an active 'reader-writer' of the visual and verbal narratives under discussion. Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za Opsomming Collage, as beide 'n verbale en visuele medium, verpersoonlik die onbesliste, gefragmenteerde, heterogene moment van postmodemisme. In hierdie tesis voer ek aan dat visuele collage, binne die konteks van boekillustrasie, 'n ideale vorm van uitbeelding hied om die toestand van kontemporere (postmodeme) narratief te illustreer. Postmodemisme, as 'n term of konsep, ontwyk enige volslae of beslissende betekenis. Gevolglik poog ek in my bespreking van die postmodeme toestand om nader aan 'n begrip van hierdie komplekse teoretiese en kulturele , fenoneem te beweeg. Postmodeme kulturele artefakte reflekteer die toestand van 'n gemodemiseerde, Westers-georienteerde, geglobaliseerde bewustheid wat liniere strukture in tekste uit die verlede en die hede weerstaan. In beide postmodeme narratiewe en fiktiewe literere narratiewe word die gesteldheid van kunsskepping toegelig. Dus ondersoek hierdie tesis verskeie opvallende eienskappe van postmodeme fiksie ten einde die veranderinge wat in die algemeen in kontemporere narratiewe manifesteer te verstaan en te demonstreer. Vele van die stilistiese en figuratiewe tegnieke van die postmodemistiese roman plaas die oormatige toe-eining en self­ refleksiewe tekstualisme van konteporere tekste op die voorgrond; die literere gebruikswyses reflekteer dikwels bepaalde collage-agtige tendense of eienskappe. Hierbenewens, bied kontemporere literereteorie vele nuttige terme en konsepte waarmee visuele tekste sowel as, vir die doe] van hierdie ondersoek, visuele narratiewe, beskryf kan word. Hierdie tesis is hoofsaaklik gevestig op 'n analise van die praktiese werk wat dee) van die Magister Artuim-graad in Beeldende Kunste uitmaak. Die bespreking van die praktiese werk is veranker in die wyer terreine van boekkuns - spesifiek die postmodeme kunstenaarsboek (livre detourne) - en in kontensieuse debatte oor die rol van visuelenarratief-illustrasie. In beide die tesis en die gelllustreerde boekobjekte bevraagteken ek die tradisionele siening dat illustrasie binne boekkontekse 'n sekondere of aanvullende posisie inneem. Ek argumenteer ten gunste van 'n vorm van visuele narratief waarvan daar nie bloot verwagword om as 'n beskrywing van die primere verbale teks te funksioneer nie. In plaas daarvan, deur binne die konteks van die kunstenaarsboek te werk en deur collage as 'n visuele (en verbale) medium te benut, demonstreer ek dat illustrasie die geskrewe teks kan aanvul, daartoe kan toevoeg of dit kan ondergrawe. Verder toon ek dat illustrasie die rol van die primere teks in die konteks van die kodeks kan inneem. Laastens skep hierdie studie die geleentheid vir 'n kreatiewe en bydraende leser - vanwee 'n intertekstuele proses wat in die boekobjekte aan die Jig kom - om as 'n aktiewe 'leser-skrywer' van die visuele en verbale tekste onder bespreking op te tree. Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za Acknowledgements I would like to thank the following people for their sincere support, interest, help and care: Lize van Robbroeck, Ralph Goodman, Denise Fourie, Arthur Wadman, and particularly to Keith Dietrich who made this entire process an adventure and never lost his inspiring enthusiasm and patience. I would also like to thank my father, Graham Halse, for always generously supporting my dreams and many years of study. Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za Words move, music moves Only in time; but that which is only living Can only die. Words, after speech, reach Into the silence. Only by the form, the pattern, Can words or music reach The stillness, as a Chinese jar still Moves perpetually in its stillness. Not the stillness of the violin, while the note lasts, Not that only, but the co-existence, Or say that the end precedes the beginning, And the end and the beginning were always there Before the beginning and after the end. And all is always now. Words strain, Crack and sometimes break, under the burden, Under the tension, slip, slide, perish, Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place, Will not stay still. Shrieking voices Scolding, mocking, or merely chattering, Always assail them. The Word in the desert Is most attacked by voices of temptation, The crying shadow in the funeral dance, The loud lament of the disconsolate chimera. T.S. Eliot According to the Greeks, trees are alphabets. Of all the tree letters, the palm is loveliest. And of writing, profuse and distinct as the burst of its fronds, it possesses the major effect: falling back. Roland Barthes Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za Table ofContents List of Illustrations Introduction 1.1 Scope and Nature of Area of Study 1.2 Aims and Problems 4 1.3 Premise and Review of Relevant Literature 5 1.4 Exposition of Contents 9 Chapters Chapter One: Towards a Theory of Postmodemism 15 1.1 Historical Background to Postmodernism 16 1.2 Definitions 20 1.3 Critical Characteristics of Postmodernism 24 1.3.1 Parody, Pastiche, Irony, Allegory and the Concept of 'History' and the Past 25 1.3.2 'Reading' and 'Writing' the Postmodern Text 28 1.4 Conclusion 30 Chapter Two: Towards a Theory of Postmodern Narrative in Fiction 33 2.1 Conventions of Postmodern Fiction 45 2.1.1 Metanarratives 46 2.1.1.1 Metafiction 47 2.1.1.2 Historiographic Metafiction 50 2.1.1.3 Fragmentation 51 2.1.1.4 Language Disorder 54 2 .1.2 Intertextuality 55 2.1.2.1 Literary Pastiche, Allegory and Metaphor 60 2.1.2.2 The Politics of Reading/Interpretation 66 2.2 Conclusion 72 Chapter Three: Framing the Text 75 3.1 Illustration in a Postmodern Context 76 3.2 Collage 82 3.2.1 Contextualising Collage 82 3.2.2 Towards a Theory of Collage 91 Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za 3.3 Collage and Counter-Collage 94 3 .3 .1 Ergon and Parergon IOI 3 .3 .2 Text and Image within the Codex 102 3.3.3 The Counter-Book 107 3 .3 .4 Code Changing 110 3.3.5 Paratext 115 3.3.6 Nesting 121 3.4 Intertextuality 125 3.4.1 Visual Allegory and Metaphor 125 3.4.2 Reading and Writing the Artist's Book 128 3.5 Conclusion 130 Conclusion 132 Illustrations 136 Sources Consulted 156 Addenda Addendum A - Table of Binary Oppositions 169 Addendum B - Source Texts for Illustrated Books 171 Addendum C - Code-Changing Diagrams 175 Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za List offllustrations (All measurements are given in centimetres) Fig. 1 Hans Arp, Squares According to the Laws ofChance (1917). Tom and pasted paper, 25.3 x 12.5. Kunstmuseum, Basel (Gale 1997:62;35). Fig. 2 George Grosz and John Heartfield, Life and Times in Universal City at 12.05 Noon (1919). Collage, dimensions and whereabouts unknown (Taylor 2004:43;37). Fig. 3 Raoul Hausmann, Dada Cino (1920). Collage and photomontage, 31. 7 x 22.5. Private Collection (Taylor 2004:43;38). Fig. 4 Max Ernst, 'Let's go. Let's dance the Tenebreuse ... ',page from Reve d'une petitefille qui voulut entrer au Carmel (A Little Girl Dreams of Taking the Veil) (1930).