This page began as a response to a reader of Vertigo who asked about novels in which photographers appear as important characters. I posted a plea for suggestions and did a bit more research myself. Here are the results to date. Thanks to all who responded with nominations.
I have no doubt that there are many more such titles in existence, so please feel free to make additional nominations.
A word of caution. To be honest, I have neither seen nor read most of these books. They are here largely because of the recommendations of various thoughtful readers who have nominated titles for this list. [Last updated: May 2011]
Adolfo Bioy Casares, La Aventura de un Fotografo en la Plata. Buenos Aires: Emecé Editores, 1985 (translated as The Adventures of a Photographer in La Plata in 1989)
Chris Bohjalian, Double Bind. NY: Shaye Areheart, 2007.
Italo Calvino, Gli Amori Difficili. Milan: Mondadori, 1993 (contains the story translated as The Adventure of a Photographer in Difficult Loves in 1983) [the story can be read online here].
Anne Carson, Autobiography of Red. NY: Vintage, 1999.
Julio Cortázar, Las babas del diablo, in Las Aramas Secretas. 1959 (translated in 1967 as Blowup, in Blowup and Other Stories) [the source for Antonioni's film Blowup].
Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves. NY: Pantheon, 2000.
Don Delillo, Mao III. NY: Viking, 1991.
Delia Falconer, The Service of Clouds. Sydney: Picador, 1997.
Dick Francis, Reflex. London: Michael Joseph, 1980.
David Fulmer, Chasing the Devil’s Tail: A Mystery of Storyville, New Orleans. Scottsdale: Poisoned Pen Press, 2001 [Famous Storyville photographer E.J. Bellocq is a character in this and possibly other volumes in Fulmer's mystery series].
James Hall, Body Language. NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1998 [first in an apparent series of mysteries featuring a Miami police photographer].
Sarah Hall, How To Paint a Dead Man. London: Faber & Faber, 2009.. A photographer is one of several artists involved in this story loosely based on the painter Giorgio Morandi.
Elizabeth Hand, Generation Loss. Northampton: Small Beer Press, 2007.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of Seven Gables. Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1851.
Julie Hecht, Do the Windows Open? NY: Random House, 1997.
Julie Hecht, The Unprofessionals. NY: Random House, 2003.
Julie Hecht, Happy Trails to You: Stories. NY: Simon & Schuster, 2008.
Peter Henisch’s Die kleine Figur meines Vaters. Roman mit Abbildungen. Ein Gespräch. Frankfurt: Fisher Verlag, 1975 (translated in 1990 as Negatives of My Father).
David Hunt, The Magician’s Tale. NY: Putnam, 1997 [the first in a series of mysteries featuring a San Francisco photographer who is color-blind].
Keith Kachtick, Hungry Ghost. NY: Harper Collins, 2003.
Billie Letts, Where the Heart Is. NY: Warner, 1995.
Ronit Matalon, Bliss. NY: Henry Holt, 2003.
Colum McCann, Songdogs. London: Phoenix House, 1995.
Andrew Miller, The Optimists. NY: Mariner Books, 2006.
David Morrell, Double Image. NY: Warner Books, 1998 [thriller].
Péter Nádas, A Lovely Tale of Photography. Prague: Twisted Spoon, 1999.
Guadalupe Nettel, Ptósis, in Pétalos, y otros Historias Incómodas. Barcelona: Anagrama, 2008 [the story can be read online here].
Cees Nooteboom, Mokusei. Amsterdam: De Arbeiderspers, 1982.
Jack O’Connell. The Skin Palace. 2001.
Michael Ondaatje, Coming Through Slaughter. Toronto: Anansi, 1976.
Cynthia Ozick, Shots, in Levitation: Five Fictions. NY: Knopf, 1982 [also in Collected Stories].
Arturo Perez-Reverte, El Pinto de Batalles. Madrid: Alfaguara, 2006 (translated in 2007 as The Painter of Battles).
Cristina Peri Rossi, El Amor es una droga dura. Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1999.
Anthony Powell. Dance to the Music of Time. London: Heinemann, 1951-1975 (12 vols).
Anthony Powell, The Fisher King. London: Heinemann, 1986.
Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day. NY: Penguin, 2006.
Rachel Seiffert, The Dark Room. London: Heinemann, 2001.
Robert Anthony Siegel, All Will Be Revealed. San Francisco: MacAdam/Cage, 2007.
Dominic Smith, The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre. NY: Atria, 2006.
Tatjana Soli, The Lotus Eaters. NY: St. Martins, 2010. A female combat photographer in Viet Nam.
Paul Theroux. Picture Palace. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1978. [An elderly photographer rummages through her archive as she prepares for a retrospective exhibition. Apparently there are allusions to actual photographs taken by Margaret Bourke-White.]
Dimitri Verhulst, Problemski Hotel. Amsterdam: Contact, 2003 (translated as Problemski Hotel in 2005).
William Vollman, You Bright and Risen Angels. NY: Atheneum, 1987.
Robert James Waller, The Bridges of Madison County. NY: Warner, 1992.
Marianne Wiggins The Shadow Catcher. NY: Simon & Schuster, 2007 (about Edward Curtis).
Marcus Wynne, Warrior in the Shadows. NY: Forge, 2002 (fair warning: CIA agent turns forensic photographer).
February 9, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Autobiography of Red (1998) is a verse novel by Anne Carson and is another book to add to this list.
June 9, 2010 at 12:07 pm
I don’t know if this link will stay live for very long (it’s a remnant of the old GeoCities site) but for photographers in fiction, in major and minor roles, don’t miss the very very extensive, annotated bibliography by Bill Jay at:
http://www.reocities.com/SoHo/Museum/7101/picture/jayfiction.html
July 27, 2010 at 4:44 pm
“Le Roi des aulnes” by Michel Tournier, which has been translated as “The Erl-King,” and also as “The Ogre.”
November 23, 2010 at 12:01 pm
Andrew Miller’s The Optimists is about a photojournalist who has to deal with the images he’s taken of the Rwandan genocide.
May 29, 2012 at 1:31 pm
Paul Theroux’s novel loosely based on some of Margaret Bourke-White’s adventures: Picture Palace
World-famous photographer Maude Coffin Pratt has pointed her lens at the beautiful, obscure, and obscene, and at the private places and public parts of the famous, from Gertrude Stein to Graham Greene. When the seventy-year-old Maude rummages through her archives in preparation for a triumphant retrospective, the resurrected images unleash a flood of suppressed memories — of her extraordinary life, her celebrated subjects, and the dark, painful secret at the core of her existence.
May 29, 2012 at 8:14 pm
Thanks for the addition of the Theroux title!
Terry
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