The Photograph as Mise en Abyme – „prose turn”, Photography as a Reflection of Mise en Abyme

Abstract

This study examines the function of the mise en abyme in fiction, a technique originally related to the fine arts. The conceptual and theoretical approach also highlights the fact that the mise en abyme as a self-reflexive figure within the narrative is often present in the work as a visual narration or as a description of an image; in other words as an ekphrasis.
In photography, the reality and its “reflection” raise even more complex questions, and the appearance of a photograph in literary works often has an impact on the narration as well as on certain features of the prose. The photographs can capture self-reflective figures of the text on several occasions, when the selected moment (punctum) is visible in the picture as the focal point of the literary work, and the photo condenses the essence and abstract-essential meaning inside the story with metaphorical and symbolic power one or more occasions. All of these are deemed particularly important and demonstrate the productive relationships with the prose transformation of the 1970s and 1980s in Hungarian literature, with the currenses and intermedial features of “The Postmodern Turn” (Prózafordulat).
The study examines the role and significance of the photograph in the works of three different authors (Miklós Mészöly, Géza Bereményi, Pál Závada). All three examples mobilizing different content and thought issues can be interpreted as the mise en abyme of the novel through the group photos in focus.

Photo: Fortepan/ Lajos Gádoros