Picturing Ourselves: Photography and Autobiography

302 Pages·1997·20.465 MB·English

by  Linda Haverty Rugg

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G
P II TU R I N 0 U R S ELVES

llNDA HAVERTY RUGG

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P H O T O G R A P H Y A U T O B I O G R A P H Y

The Llnlversly of Chicago Press / Chlcato and London
LINDAH AVERTRYU CG is associate professor of German and Scandinavian in
the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at The Ohio State
University.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
0 1997 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 1997
Printed in the United States of America
06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 97 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN: 0-226-73146-4 (cloth)
ISBN: 0-226-731 47-2 (paper)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rugg, Linda Haverty.
Picturing ourselves : photography and autobiography / Linda
Haverty Rugg.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-226-73146-4 (cloth : alk. paper).-ISBN 0-226-73147-2
(pbk. : alk. paper)
1 . Photography-Philosophy. 2. Autobiography. 3. Twain, Mark,
1835-191 &Views on photography. 4. Strindberg, August,
1849-1 9 12-Views on photography. 5. Benjamin, Walter,
1892-1 940-Views on photography. 6. Wolf, Christa-Views on
photography. 7. Self-realization in literature. I. Title.
TR183.R84 1997
770’. 1-dc2 1 97-3996
CIP
@ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the
American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI 239.48- 1984
Cont ents
List $Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
I Illumination and Obfuscation: Mark Twain’s
Photographic Autobiography 29
I1 Photographing the Soul: August Strindberg 81
I11 The Angel $History as Photographer:
Walter Benjamin’s Berlin Childhood
around 1900 133
IV The Lost Photo Album $Christa Wop
Patterns of Childhood 189
Conclusion 23 1
Notes 239
Works Cited 26 1
Index 271
V
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Illustrations
Figure 1.1 Mark Twain, daguerreotype, 1850 31
Figure 1.2 Mark Twain, carte de visite, 1867 38
Figure 1.3 “Poet Lariat,” engraving from Innocents Abroad (I 869) 40
Figure 1.4 “Return in War-Paint,” engraving from Innocents
Abroad (1 869) 41
Figure 1.5 Mark Twain, half of a stereoscopic view, 1874 50
Figure 1.6 Mark Twain and his wife, Olivia Clemens, 1895 55
Figure 1.7 Mark Twain, 1895 56
Figure 1.8 Mark Twain giving an interview in bed, 1895 58
Figure 1.9 Stereoscopic view of Mark Twain, 1906 59
Figures 1.10-1.16 Mark Twain, Dublin, New Hampshire, 1906 74-77
Figure 2.1 August Strindberg in Lund, 1897 89
Figures 2.2-2.5 Nadar’s interview with Chevreul, photographs
from Le Journal Illustrk, 5 September 1886 96-97
Figure 2.6 August Strindberg, Gersau, 1886 98
Figure 2.7 August, Karin, and Greta Strindberg, Gersau,
1886 99
Figure 2.8 August Strindberg, Gersau, 1886. “He had put on
his black frock coat and looked respectable, but
happy as well (The Red Room)I ’ 100
Figure 2.9 Greta Strindberg, Gersau, 1886. “Greta with her
Lilli .” 101
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lllustrot ions
Figure 2.10 Siri and Hans Strindberg, Gersau, 1886. “Mamma
with Putte and the Alps, or the everlasting ques-
tion’s practical solution.” 102
Figure 2.1 1 August Strindberg, Gersau, 1886. “Come on, you
devils, and fight!” 103
Figure 2.12 August Strindberg, Gersau, 1886. “An opponent
photograph of ‘The Terrible One.”’ 104
Figure 2.13 “Contempt or Disdain,” from Charles Darwin,
The Expression ef the Emotions in Man and Animals
(1 872) 108
Figure 2.14 “Revulsion,” no. 1, from Charles Darwin, The Ex-
pression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1 872) 109
Figure 2.15 “Revulsion,” no. 2, from Charles Darwin, The Ex-
pression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1 872) 109
Figure 2.16 “Hard Times,” 1860 111
Figure 2.17 August Strindberg, Berlin, 1892 115
Figure 2.18 August Strindberg, 1906 119
Figure 3.1 Vexierbild: the Duck-Rabbit picture 1 40
Figure 3.2 Vielle Cour, 22, rue Saint-Sauveur, Paris, ca.
1898-1 927 159
Figure 3.3 Rue Saint-Rustique, Paris, ca. 1898-1927 160
Figure 3.4 Walter and Georg Benjamin, ca. 1899 168
Figure 3.5 Franz Kafka, 1888 169
Figure 3.6 “Returning from Nantes” “Vat a dirty country!”
“Ja . . .” Two Jews in France after the Dreyfus
trial, from page 1 of Psst . . . , a Parisian
journal, 13 August 1898 181
Figure 3.7 “The Teacher,” from Antlitz der Zeit (191 3) 183
Figure 3.8 “The Composer P.H. ,” from Antlitz der Zeit (1 926) 184
Figure 4.1 Christa Wolf, Getty Center, Los Angeles, 1993 191
Figure 4.2 Plac Sloneczny 5, Gorzow Wielkopolslu 196
Figure 4.3 Christa Wolf with her daughters and grand-
daughter, 1980 220
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