Fiction in the Age of Photography: The Legacy of British Realism (review)

The title of Nancy Armstrong's book suggests that there was a relationship between photography and literature, especially the genre of nineteenth-century British realism. Although both photography and realism are recurring themes in the book, there is no systematic analysis of their relationship. Instead, Armstrong offers an analysis of the role of the "image" in literature. These images are not necessarily pictures or photographs, but rather a body of descriptions, both visual and literary, that created distinctions between the various segments of British society and empire between 1780 and 1920.