For my mum and dad
‘There are writers for whom no forms exist: too clever for novels, too sceptical for poetry, too verbose for the aphorism, all that is left to them is the essay – the least appropriate medium for the foiled.’
Don Paterson
Contents
List of Illustrations
Introduction
Visuals
Jacques Henri Lartigue and The Discovery of India
Ruth Orkin’s ‘VE Day’
Richard Avedon
Larry Burrows
Enrique Metinides
Jacob Holdt’s America
Martin Parr’s Small World
Joel Sternfeld’s Utopian Visions
Alec Soth: Riverrun
Michael Ackerman
Trent Parke
Miroslav Tichý
Saving Grace: Todd Hido
Idris Khan
Edward Burtynsky
Turner and Memory
The Awakening of Stones: Rodin
The American Sublime
Verbals
D.H. Lawrence: Sons and Lovers
D.H. Lawrence: Lady Chatterley’s Lover
F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Beautiful and Damned
F. Scott Fitzgerald: Tender is the Night
James Salter: The Hunters and Light Years
Tobias Wolff: Old School
Richard Ford: The Lay of the Land
Denis Johnson: Tree of Smoke
Ian McEwan: Atonement
Alan Hollinghurst: The Line of Beauty
Lorrie Moore: A Gate at the Stairs
Don DeLillo: Point Omega
The Goncourt Journals
Rebecca West: Black Lamb and Grey Falcon
John Cheever: The Journals
Ryszard Kapuściński’s African Life
W.G. Sebald, Bombing and Thomas Bernhard
Regarding the Achievement of Others: Susan Sontag
The Moral Art of War
Variables
Is Jazz Dead?
Editions of Contemporary Me
Fabulous Clothes
The 2004 Olympics
Sex and Hotels
What Will Survive of Us …
Personals
On Being an Only Child
Sacked
On the Roof
Reader’s Block
My Life as a Gatecrasher
Something Didn’t Happen
Otherwise Known as the Human Condition (with particular reference to Donut Plant donuts)
Of Course
Sources and Acknowledgements
Index
Black-and-white photographs
Jacques Henri Lartigue: ‘Cap d’Antibes, August 1953’ © Ministère de la Culture – France/AAJHL
Ruth Orkin: ‘Times Square, VE Day, NYC, 1945’ © Ruth Orkin, 1981
‘Celebrants in Times Square on VE Day’ © Bettmann/Corbis
Richard Avedon: ‘W. H. Auden, Poet, St. Mark’s Place, New York, March 3, 1960’ © The Richard Avedon Foundation
Roger Mattingly: ‘Larry Burrows, February 17, 1971’. By kind permission of the photographer
Enrique Metinides: ‘Mexico City, 1972’. Courtesy of Thomas Dane/Ridinghouse
Michael Ackerman: ‘Untitled’, from the series and book Fiction. By kind permission of the photographer
Trent Parke: ‘White Man, 2001’ © Trent Parke/Magnum Photos/Stills Gallery
Miroslav Tichý: ‘Untitled’ © Miroslav Tichý. Private collection
Idris Khan: ‘The Uncanny’, 2006, 70 x 80 inches, Lightjet Print. Courtesy of Idris Khan, Victoria Miro Gallery, London, and Yvon Lambert Gallery, New York
Robert Hall: ‘Ghost Bike’ © Robert Hall, 2008
‘On the Roof’
Colour plates
Jacob Holdt: ‘Palm Beach’ © Jacob Holdt. By kind permission of the photographer
Martin Parr: ‘Acropolis, Athens, Greece’. By kind permission of the photographer and Dewi Lewis Publishing
Joel Sternfeld: ‘Ruins of Drop City, Trinidad, Colorado, August 1995’. Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York
Alec Soth: ‘Peter’s Houseboat, Winona, Minnesota’, from Sleeping by the Mississippi © Alec
