Flat Style: Things Fall Apart and Its Illustrations

PMLA ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 131 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Hyde

In the early 1960s two editions of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart were published with competing sets of illustrations. The first, by Dennis Carabine, illustrates a realist novel, the second, by Uche Okeke, a modernist one. Reading Achebe's iconic novel through its early publication history and for its visual images shows how the famous ending of Things Fall Apart turns, stylistically, to the impenetrable flatness of the modernist surface. At mid-century, modernist style could be made to serve realist imperatives, and Achebe's flat style challenges colonial modes of literary representation and the myth of modernist primitivism in the visual arts. This essay stresses the importance of the visual image to mid-century anglophone literature and the importance of modernist style to the poetics of decolonization.

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Josephat Mutangadura ◽  
J C Mann ◽  
L Odendaal

Most visuals in media stories either complement or are complemented by captions that accompany them. This study sought to establish the complementary and clarifying effect of captions that go with road carnage images in The Herald newspaper, a local daily published in Zimbabwe. A study was carried out which involved an interview with photo-journalists from the stable and an analysis of three visual images chosen from the publication. It was established that even as a visual, image can stand alone (but not always); it can tell 95 per cent of the story but will only be complete with an accompanying caption. It was also established that captions need not tell the obvious, but provide that which the picture will be lacking to complete the road carnage story. Captions, therefore, help complete the story as regards the when, where, how, who and what of the depiction. The visual image and the caption combine to complete a communication activity as the verbal and non-verbal form of languages. The study recommends that captions should be edited not only by photo-editors and journalists, but also by practising language people.


The Library ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 477-497
Author(s):  
Jonathan Reimer

Abstract This article attributes four lost works to the literary corpus of the English clergyman and bestselling Tudor devotional author Thomas Becon (1512–1567): The Shelde of Saluacion, An Heauenly Acte, Christen Prayers and Godly Meditacions, and The Resurreccion of the Masse. It ascribes these texts to Becon in light of three types of corroborating evidence: contemporary attribution, parallels of content, and early publication history. These four lost works not only furnish a fuller picture of his literary output, but also provide new insights into his career, rhetoric, and theology. As Becon was the most popular evangelical devotional author writing in English during the sixteenth century, this analysis of his hitherto unattributed books makes a valuable contribution to the bibliography of Tudor England, especially during the transformative years of the Henrician, Edwardine, Marian, and Elizabethan Reformations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 86
Author(s):  
Ahmad Sugianto

Understanding an English-medium science textbook is possibly challenging for some students. It is, for example, due to the language used. To deal with this issue, construing the use of the other mode, such as visual images, along with the verbal text is regarded useful. Thereby, the construal of multimodality in an English-medium science textbook becomes crucial. Albeit a myriad of inspections on multimodality exists, but to the best of the writer’s knowledge, such investigation with respect to an English-medium science textbook, particularly at a primary school level, was found to be limited. Therefore, this study aimed to scrutinize the verbal text and visual image presented in a science textbook used for a primary school level which is presented in English. To that end, a descriptive research design was employed. In this regard, a systemic functional multimodal discourse analysis (SF-MDA) within the trinocular metafunctions encompassing ideational, interpersonal, and textual metafunctions was utilized. The systemic functional linguistics theory, the grammar of visual design, intersemiotic complementarity, and logico-semantics were the frameworks employed to analyze the artefact, the English-medium science textbook. The findings revealed that the visual image and verbal text interact with one another within the three metafunctions. Given the interaction between the two modes, the present study suggests that both teachers and students are required to take into considerations and be aware of the potential or roles of images along with the verbal text, i.e. the images are not merely accessories, but instead, these are able to assist the comprehension of the science materials learned.


Author(s):  
D. O. Martynova ◽  

On the example of the work «The Great Neurosis» by the French sculptor Jacques Loysel and «Europe» by the Austrian graphic artist Alfred Kubin, it is described and analyzed how artists gave characteristics of changes in their eras, using the same visual image associated with a mental illness. It is proved that while Loysel’s artwork was associated with the latest discoveries in medicine, then Kubin’s artwork was reinterpreted in a new way, reflecting the problems and experiences of the «lost generation». From this it follows that the example of the works «The Great Neurosis» and «Europe» by Loysel and Kubin can be traced not only to evolution, but also to the introduction of the pathological image of the “hysterical body” both in the art of the XXth century and in contemporary art practices. Such a study demonstrates the relevance and signifi cance of studying the links between, as well as the analysis of the impact of mechanisms of institutions of disciplinary power on the visual arts of various eras.


Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 1118
Author(s):  
Liang-Ming Jia ◽  
Fang-Wu Tung

This study aimed to investigate consumers’ visual image evaluation of wrist wearables based on Kansei engineering. A total of 8 representative samples were screened from 99 samples using the multidimensional scaling (MDS) method. Five groups of adjectives were identified to allow participants to express their visual impressions of wrist wearable devices through a questionnaire survey and factor analysis. The evaluation of eight samples using the five groups of adjectives was analyzed utilizing the triangle fuzzy theory. The results showed a relatively different evaluation of the eight samples in the groups of “fashionable and individual” and “rational and decent”, but little distinction in the groups of “practical and durable”, “modern and smart” and “convenient and multiple”. Furthermore, wrist wearables with a shape close to a traditional watch dial (round), with a bezel and mechanical buttons (moderate complexity) and asymmetric forms received a higher evaluation. The acceptance of square- and elliptical-shaped wrist wearables was relatively low. Among the square- and rectangular-shaped wrist wearables, the greater the curvature of the chamfer, the higher the acceptance. Apparent contrast between the color of the screen and the casing had good acceptance. The influence of display size on consumer evaluations was relatively small. Similar results were obtained in the evaluation of preferences and willingness to purchase. The results of this study objectively and effectively reflect consumers’ evaluation and potential demand for the visual images of wrist wearables and provide a reference for designers and industry professionals.


Author(s):  
Denys MANOKHA

The article is devoted to the empirical study of the effectiveness of the use of recognizable images taken from folklore, mythology, epics or known samples of art, an advertising product. To implement research applied traditional (classical) and innovative, author empirical techniques. Demonstrated and proven impact the effectiveness of recognizable visual image perception of the effectiveness of promotional product.


Author(s):  
Hiroki Fukushima

In this chapter, methodologies for producing a mental representation of a cup of sake are introduced. Mental representations of taste are often vague and fuzzy in comparison to audio or visual images. On the other hand, some individuals, such as sommeliers or tasters of sake, are able to readily formulate a representation of the taste they experience. How can the average person produce words or other types of mental representations in such a situation? In this chapter, the author presents three methodologies for eliciting mental representations of taste: a new supporting tool for verbalizing an image of taste, an experimental method for testing a verbal and visual image for taste, and an experimental methodology for producing a free drawing representation of a cup of sake.


Author(s):  
Paul Giles

This chapter considers how the literary representation of time after World War II was shaped by intersections with music and the visual arts. Taking its title from Djuna Barnes’s verse drama The Antiphon (1958), it argues that an antiphonal quality was implicit within works of canonical modernism, which similarly involve interplays between proposition and response, high and low. It suggests how a similar kind of recursive pattern informs Samuel Beckett’s narratives, organized as they are around a dialectic between nostalgia for the sublime and a cathexis of bathos. In relation to Patrick White’s burlesque styles, it argues that this can be seen not as marginal to constructions of modernism, but as endemic to modernism’s antiphonal arts. It also considers the mutual influences of White and Australian painter Sidney Nolan, while discussing the significance of the latter’s collaboration with Boston poet Robert Lowell.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Venus Jin ◽  
Ehri Ryu

Purpose Luxury fashion brands harness the power of Instagram and fashionistas for strategic brand management. This study aims to test interaction effects among luxury brand posts’ Instagram source type (brand versus fashionista), visual image type (product-centric versus consumer-centric) and consumers’ characteristics (vanity, opinion leadership and fashion consciousness) on brand recognition and trust. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative 2 (source type: brand versus fashionista) × 2 (branded visual image type: product-centric luxury versus consumer-centric luxury) between-subjects online experiment (N males = 195 and N females = 182) was conducted by recruiting participants from MTurk. Findings Logistic regression analyses indicated two-way interaction effects between sources and visual images on brand recognition. Brand recognition was higher for product-centric images when the source was the fashionista, whereas brand recognition was equivalent regardless of the image type when the source was the brand. Logistic regression and multiple regression analyses revealed the moderating effects of sources and visual images on the association between consumer traits and branding outcomes. Practical implications Meticulously choosing effective methods of showcasing branded content and persuasive luxury visual image strategies via Instagram is more important for fashionistas than for established brands in increasing brand recognition. Instagram fashionistas are more effective in increasing females’ brand trust through delivering product-centric visual images when targeting women with high vanity, opinion leadership and fashion consciousness. Brands as the Instagram profile source are more persuasive in increasing males’ brand trust through delivering product-centric visual images when targeting men with high vanity. Originality/value This experiment provides theoretical discussions and empirical findings about social media influencer marketing and managerial implications for Instagram-based luxury branding. This research revolves around the overarching theme of the interactive effects of multifaceted branded contents and market segments in social media influencer marketing environments.


Perception ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shinsuke Shimojo

When the visual image of a body part, such as a finger, is doubled by a prism, the ‘felt’ position of that body part is captured by one of its visual images. Moving eye fixation from one to the other visual image is accompanied by a quick shift of the felt position. When focal attention is dissociated from foveation, the former determines visual capture. These new observations underline an active role of focal attention in intersensory integration and sensory—motor coordination of body parts.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document