Ekphrastic Historiographic Metafiction – Enfolding Word, Image and History

T he purpose of this paper is to provide a dynamic model of ekphrasis which can be used to interpret literary works that refer to, and thus, represent works of art. The paper will also show how ekphrasis as a fold collaborates with historiographic metafiction in ekphrastic historiographic metafiction. Theoretical reflection will be illustrated with the relevant examples from Salman Rushdie’s The Enchantress of Florence, Patrick Gale’s Notes from an Exhibition, Tracy Chevalier’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and Joseph Heller’s Picture This.