| Description |
1 online resource (viii, 272 pages) : illustrations |
| Summary |
Photos filled with the forlorn faces of hungry and impoverished Americans that came to characterize the desolation of the Great Depression are among the best known artworks of the twentieth century. Captured by the camera's eye, these stark depictions of suffering became iconic markers of a formative period in U.S. history. Although there has been an ample amount of critical inquiry on Depression-era photographs, the bulk of scholarship treats them as isolated art objects. And yet they were often joined together with evocative writing in a genre that flourished amid the period, the documentary. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
Introduction: Plausible fictions of the real -- From 'culture' to 'cultural work': literature and labor between the wars -- The road to somewhere: locating knowledge in Erskine Caldwell and Margaret Bourke-White's You have seen their faces (1937) -- Moving violations: stasis and mobility in James Agee's and Walker Evans's Let us now praise famous men (1941) -- From eye to we: Richard Wright's 12 million black voices, documentary, and pedagogy -- 'We Americans': Henry Luce, life, and the mind-guided camera -- Epilogue: depression documentary and the knot of history. |
| Note |
Print version record. |
| Subject |
Caldwell, Erskine, 1903-1987. You have seen their faces.
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Agee, James, 1909-1955. Let us now praise famous men.
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Wright, Richard, 1908-1960. 12 million black voices.
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Caldwell, Erskine, 1903-1987.
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Agee, James, 1909-1955.
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Wright, Richard, 1908-1960.
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American literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism.
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Documentary photography -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
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Modernism (Literature) -- United States.
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Literature and photography -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
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Photography -- Political aspects -- United States.
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LITERARY CRITICISM -- American -- General.
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| Other Form: |
Print version: Allred, Jeff, 1972- American modernism and depression documentary. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2009 9780195335682 |
| Standard No. |
9786612328749 |
| ISBN |
9780199714766 (electronic bk.) |
|
0199714762 (electronic bk.) |
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