Synopses & Reviews
The writing life has long captured our collective imagination. What is it about writers, we wonder, that empowers them to work words into shapes and patterns that move us? The most affecting photographs possess that same power -- to reach out upon first sight, to capture our hearts and minds, to leave us smitten. andlt;BRandgt; Such is the feeling that comes from gazing at the work of Marion Ettlinger, a photographer celebrated for her "literary portrait power" andlt;Iandgt;(The Wall Street Journal). Author Photoandlt;/Iandgt; collects, for the first time in book form, more than two hundred of Ettlinger's most famous photographs. Immortalized in these pages are many of America's greatest writers, including Raymond Carver, Francine Prose, Walter Mosley, Mary Karr, John Irving, Joyce Carol Oates, Truman Capote, Cormac McCarthy, Patricia Highsmith, Ken Kesey, Edwidge Danticat, and Jeffrey Eugenides. andlt;BRandgt; According to one of Ettlinger's Pulitzer Prize-winning subjects, "starkness and a sense of shadows" are at the core of her artistic allure. Shot exclusively in natural light and in black-and-white film, each of these images is an intimate artwork, putting the reader closer than ever before to the writers they revere and admire. A photographic paean to the literary spirit, andlt;Iandgt;Author Photoandlt;/Iandgt; opens a rare and revealing window onto the timelessness of creativity.
Review
"[T]hese are sharply dramatic, brooding portraits of literary lights." New York Times
Review
"[A]n almost wantonly satisfying collection of photographs by Ettlinger, who has made a genuine art form out of taking author's pictures....[C]ompelling." Booklist
Review
"Ettlinger's sleek photographs take on a slightly otherworldly quality..." Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
A photographer celebrated for her "literary portrait power" (The Wall Street Journal) presents a glamorous showcase of some of America's greatest living writers. Publishers have long regarded Marion Ettlinger as the photographer whose author photos can make a writer stand out in a crowded literary market-place. According to one of her Pulitzer Prize-winning subjects, "starkness and a sense of shadows" are at the core of her artistic allure. In recent interviews, The Wall Street Journal and National Public Radio's Fresh Air have asked how she captures the dramatic essence of America's greatest writers. In Author Photo, Ettlinger answers definitively and with resounding beauty with more than 200 of her most striking portraits, collected for the first time in book form. Immortalized in these pages are Raymond Carver, Francine Prose, John Irving, Joyce Carol Oates, Truman Capote, Gloria Naylor, Jeffrey Eugenides, Cormac McCarthy, and many more. A photographic paean to the literary spirit, Author Photo opens a rare and revealing window onto the timelessness of creativity.
About the Author
andlt;Bandgt;Marion Ettlingerandlt;/Bandgt; has been a photographer since 1968. She lives in New York City.