Editor’s Preface

Abstract

the Image’ gradually realising Marshall McLuhan’s prophecy of ‘postliterate societies’, we find ourselves in the position to re-assess the co-existence of words and images in literary discourse and the ways in which the paradigm of ‘vision’ informs our understanding of texts. This is the implied agenda behind the present collection of articles that address the complexity of what might be termed ‘visual poetics’. This being our incentive, the essays making up this special issue discuss a variety of literary works, from Shakespeare to the present day, and persuasively demonstrate the irresolvable connection between seeing and reading.