Ekphrasis: Intermedial and Anglophone Perspectives

“Ekphrasis” (from the Greek ek = out and phrazein = to speak, meaning “to speak out” or “to show clearly and completely”) is one of the most adaptable and multifaceted modes of speaking and writing in the Western tradition, looking back on a rich history of nearly three millennia. In its broadest sense, ekphrasis is understood as an intermedial reference, for example, when a text refers to a photograph or a film to a painting. More narrow understandings of ekphrasis follow James A. W. Heffernan’s 1993 definition of it being “the verbal representation of visual representation.” Focusing mostly on word-image configurations, this chapter traces the long history of ekphrasis from Homer to Margaret Atwood; presents an overview of definitions, typologies, and theoretical approaches to ekphrasis against the backdrop of various cultural shifts and important aesthetic debates; collects a number of functions of ekphrasis that range from the paragonal to the ethical to the auraticizing; and features many literary examples from Anglophone literature to illustrate the ideas and theories at hand. The aim of this chapter is to give a concise overview of the research field in the Western tradition and to highlight newer trends that bring ekphrasis in conversation with, for instance, ecocriticism, the cognitive sciences, and the digital humanities. Ultimately, this chapter demonstrates how important it is to actively think about ekphrasis in today’s media ecology because it is such a potent tool to question epistemologies, read and misread images, and reconstruct and subvert concepts of representation. Indeed, ekphrasis reveals, contests and rewrites deep-seated beliefs that go beyond visual culture.