빈곤의 장면들: 『이제 이름이 알려진 자들을 칭송하자』의 존재론적 읽기
Scenes of Poverty: A Ontological Reading of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
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This paper explores the ontological significance of Walker Evans and James Agee’s 1941 photo documentary book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. The first chapter provides an overview of the historical circumstances that enabled the two authors’ collaborative work, followed by an explanation of their parallel efforts to evoke the Heideggerian being of the entities in the lives of Southern tenant farmers during the Great Depression. The second chapter elucidates the underlying ideas of Walker Evans’ photography. By comparing Evans's photography to the propagandistic style of Margaret Bourke-White and drawing on the theories of Roland Barthes and Susan Sontag, this chapter contends that Evans’ “thought-provoking” works demonstrate his ethics of representation. Evans’ detached viewpoint does not intend an aesthetic contemplation but rather to indicate the invisible world within the daily lives of the tenant families. By referring to Walter Benjamin’s critique of New Objectivism and Martin Heidegger’s interpretation of Van Gogh’s painting, this chapter shows how Evans’ photographs of household goods conjure up the world as being there. The third chapter examines James Agee’s strategies for using his “rebellious” modernist language to depict the invisible world implied by Evans’ photographs. Agee’s mimetic writing shows that the tenant families’ daily activities and the humble shelter are places where the readers can encounter sanctity and beauty. With his cosmic imagination, Agee expands the daily lives of each entity into a planet shaped as a “globular” one. This chapter investigates the ontological insights that led to this cosmological reconstruction. The book’s title reveals the two authors’ deep respect for those who simply are at the scenes of poverty. This essay concludes by highlighting the importance of the authors' efforts to present the impoverished as "unrepeatable" individuals.
Abstract
This paper explores the ontological significance of Walker Evans and James Agee’s 1941 photo documentary book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. The first chapter provides an overview of the historical circumstances that enabled the two authors’ collaborative work, followed by an explanation of their parallel efforts to evoke the Heideggerian being of the entities in the lives of Southern tenant farmers during the Great Depression. The second chapter elucidates the underlying ideas of Walker Evans’ photography. By comparing Evans's photography to the propagandistic style of Margaret Bourke-White and drawing on the theories of Roland Barthes and Susan Sontag, this chapter contends that Evans’ “thought-provoking” works demonstrate his ethics of representation. Evans’ detached viewpoint does not intend an aesthetic contemplation but rather to indicate the invisible world within the daily lives of the tenant families. By referring to Walter Benjamin’s critique of New Objectivism and Martin Heidegger’s interpretation of Van Gogh’s painting, this chapter shows how Evans’ photographs of household goods conjure up the world as being there. The third chapter examines James Agee’s strategies for using his “rebellious” modernist language to depict the invisible world implied by Evans’ photographs. Agee’s mimetic writing shows that the tenant families’ daily activities and the humble shelter are places where the readers can encounter sanctity and beauty. With his cosmic imagination, Agee expands the daily lives of each entity into a planet shaped as a “globular” one. This chapter investigates the ontological insights that led to this cosmological reconstruction. The book’s title reveals the two authors’ deep respect for those who simply are at the scenes of poverty. This essay concludes by highlighting the importance of the authors' efforts to present the impoverished as "unrepeatable" individuals.
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