Visuals and Visualization

Based on the advertisements in this section, it is clear that Harper's Weekly prides themselves on their illustrations. The beautiful drawings accompanying their stories and poems claim to contribute to the overall experience of reading the periodical. Some of their stories, including "Cousin Bob's First Love," pictured here, stand alone. In its introduction, this particular story also seems to indirectly reject the value of visually-mediated storytelling on the grounds that it inhibits the truth and depth of a story. 

In "Cousin Bob's First Love," a group of "relations or intimate friends," not unlike the gathering at Frizinghall before Rachel's birthday party, tell stories after dinner (Hough). One cousin suggests that they "put out the gas," another agrees on the grounds that "people tell things about themselves more plainly the less clearly they are seen" (Hough). The only illustration given in this excerpt is a verbal one; the narrator describes the proceedings in his cousin's luxurious parlour. The "curious illustration" he refers to (Hough), however, is not a description of a scene but a reflection on it. Does he suggest that one's interpretation of a scene is more effective supplementation than illustrations?

In Chapter 8 of The Moonstone, Betteredge provides an ecphrastic description of miss Verinder "to the best of [his] painting, as large as life" (Collins 52). Instead of including a drawing or photo of Rachel, Betteredge relies on imagery to provide an accurate portrait for the reader's imaginary viewing. If a picture were included, certainly the reader would know exactly what Rachel would look like, but would miss the other information Betteredge provides, such as the fact that Betteredge thinks the "graces of her figure (...) [are] in her flesh and not in her clothes," or that Franklin thinks her mouth and chin are "morsels for the gods" (52). Although this information seems trivial, no detail or image can be taken for granted when solving a mystery. 

The included excerpt ends as the cousins discuss the best size of turkey. Although the general preference seems to be larger turkeys, because they look better, the cousin suggests that smaller turkeys are "infinitely nicer" (Hough). So, although the visual of one option are pleasing, it is the smaller details of the other option that are most important. Similarly, what is overlooked when images dominate a publication can be vital to interpretation.