Abstract:
The paper tackles the role played by images in Willa Cather's novel My Antonia. It demonstrates that the images used in the novel serve a literary function that is crucial to understand the novel. Depending mainly on the definition of a paratext as an element that complements the texts, the paper proposes that images in the novel constitute one such element. The use of images in My Antonia represents a technical innovation that Willa Cather (1876-1947) employed in the novel. The paper analyzes the text from two vantage points that are presented simultaneously to prove that they complement each other. Within this context, many factors are taken into consideration: time, characterization and viewers. The image and the word are analyzed together to reach a dialectical vision of an image text. The paper proves that Cather employs visual art in her novel to deny a centralized vision or a totalized experience.