Author’s name:
Tatyana А. Poluektova – Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University named after V.P. Astafiev, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
Abstract:
The article is devoted to the image of a peeping photographer, which has remained virtually unexplored in Russian literary studies: the problem of crossing ethical boundaries and the consequences that follow. In the story A Spoilt Negative by E. Hornung and the novella The Little Photographer by D. du Maurier, crossing boundaries, which is the main plot collision, can be designated as a meaning-forming phenomenon that contributes to the construction of a hierarchy of meanings. Thus, the photographer in E. Hornung’s story creates a photo of his secret lover, wanting to possess at least her image. However, this instance of “photo peeping” becomes known to her, and the pho-tographer makes a mistake that looks fatal at first glance: as a result of superimposing one negative on another, a “spoiled” negative is obtained. Despite this, the photographer is forgiven, and the ending is happy. The violation of boundaries, colored by the writer’s irony, leads to the creation of a family as the main value of the Victorian era. The secret union of a resort photographer and a married woman in D. du Maurier’s short story The Little Photographer ends tragically: after his death, the pictures he had taken earlier become compromising, threatening the marriage of the Marquise. Static depictions of the Marquise’s different statuses construct her multidimensional portrayal, enhancing the narrative’s psychological depth. The author of the article comes to the conclusion about the functionality of photography in A Spoilt Negative by E. Hornung and The Little Photographer by D. du Maurier. Since these stories belong to different historical and literary periods, this fact alone in many ways determines both the pragmatics of the photographs in the narrative and the specifics of the image of their creator as the man on the other side of the lens.
| Section | ARTISTIC TEXT AT THE CROSSROADS OF CULTURES |
| DOI: | 10.47388/2072-3490/lunn2025-70-2-103-116 |
| Downloads | 13 |
| Key words | photographer; photographic ekphrasis; E. W. Hornung, A Spoilt Negative, D. du Mau-rier, The Little Photographer |