On November 16, 2012, Triple Canopy presented Lines of Sight, a public reading of passages from fiction that describe photography explicitly, as a subject, or adopt photographic strategies of framing, staging, or manipulation.
Photography is often characterized by its suspension between sets of oppositional pairs: image and object, expression and documentation, icon and index, art and technology. A fictionalized photography frees the medium from the most contentious of these oppositions—fact and fiction. When encountered in fiction, how does a photograph shift from this state of suspension to instrument of the author? How does photography participate in the act of mythologizing? How are photographic methods interpreted and employed in literature? What kinds of characters are photographers?
Hannah Whitaker introduces the evening (00:00-02:19).
Hannah Whitaker reads from Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Oval Portrait," 1850 (02:20-11:22).
Alejandro Cesarco reads from Felisberto Hernández’s "Just Before Falling Asleep," first published, 1977 (11:23-14:17).
Nancy Davenport reads from Julio Cortázar’s "Blow-up," 1968 (14:18-22:56).
Daniel Gordon reads from Kobo Abe’s The Face of Another, 1966 (22:57-35:54).
Molly Kleiman reads from Lorrie Moore’s Anagrams, 1986 (35:55-41:44).
Michael Famighetti reads from Thomas Bernhard’s Extinction, 1995 (41:45-48:28).
Michele Abeles reads from Michel Houellebecq’s The Map and the Territory, 2010 (48:29-54:32).
Moyra Davey reads from Jean Genet’s Our Lady of the Flowers, 1943 (54:33-1:00:29).
Sarah Resnick reads from Roberto Bolaño’s 2666, 2004 (1:00:30-1:05:40).
Dan Torop reads from Halldór Laxness’s Under the Glacier, 1968 (1:05:41).