This thesis documents four distinct post-WWII North American writers and artists—the poet John Berryman, the poet John Ashbery, the classicist and writer Anne Carson, and the photographer Nan Goldin—who expanded traditional definitions and practices of portraiture. Their works—The Dream Songs, “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror,” Nox, and The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (and “The Cookie Portfolio”)—developed new ways of representing human subjectivity and the self that integrated the influences of Romanticism, Modernism and Postmodernism, but were not defined by these movements. In an era when notions of autonomous art and human identity became fractured, they picked up the pieces and rearranged them to make portraits (within-self-portraits) that put personhood and mortality at the center of their art.
In addition to close readings and comparisons of the poems, texts, and photographs, this thesis will situate the above and related works in their literary- and art-historical contexts. It will also reference relevant theoretical frameworks applied to these works and genres by critics and scholars.
","abstract_html":"<p>This thesis documents four distinct post-WWII North American writers and artists—the poet John Berryman, the poet John Ashbery, the classicist and writer Anne Carson, and the photographer Nan Goldin—who expanded traditional definitions and practices of portraiture. Their works—<em>The Dream Songs</em>, “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror,” <em>Nox, </em>and <em>The Ballad of Sexual Dependency </em>(and “The Cookie Portfolio”)—developed new ways of representing human subjectivity and the self that integrated the influences of Romanticism, Modernism and Postmodernism, but were not defined by these movements. In an era when notions of autonomous art and human identity became fractured, they picked up the pieces and rearranged them to make portraits (within-self-portraits) that put personhood and mortality at the center of their art.</p> <p>In addition to close readings and comparisons of the poems, texts, and photographs, this thesis will situate the above and related works in their literary- and art-historical contexts. It will also reference relevant theoretical frameworks applied to these works and genres by critics and scholars.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["King, Andrew D."],"institution":"The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York","degree_name":"Master of Arts","degree_level":"Master","degree_discipline":"Liberal Studies","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["George Fragopoulos"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2019,"date_issued":"2019-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2019-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:59:21Z","subjects":["American Literature","American Studies","Modern Literature","Photography","Contemporary American Poetry","Elegy","Postmodernism"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3185","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["George Fragopoulos"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["King, Andrew D."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-04-24T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Liberal Studies"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Master"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["American Literature","American Studies","Modern Literature","Photography","Contemporary American Poetry","Elegy","Postmodernism"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3185"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This thesis documents four distinct post-WWII North American writers and artists—the poet John Berryman, the poet John Ashbery, the classicist and writer Anne Carson, and the photographer Nan Goldin—who expanded traditional definitions and practices of portraiture. Their works—The Dream Songs, “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror,” Nox, and The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (and “The Cookie Portfolio”)—developed new ways of representing human subjectivity and the self that integrated the influences of Romanticism, Modernism and Postmodernism, but were not defined by these movements. In an era when notions of autonomous art and human identity became fractured, they picked up the pieces and rearranged them to make portraits (within-self-portraits) that put personhood and mortality at the center of their art.
In addition to close readings and comparisons of the poems, texts, and photographs, this thesis will situate the above and related works in their literary- and art-historical contexts. It will also reference relevant theoretical frameworks applied to these works and genres by critics and scholars.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["“Whispers Out of Time”: Memorializing (Self-) Portraits in the Work of John Berryman, John Ashbery, Anne Carson, and Nan Goldin"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["George Fragopoulos"],"dc:creator":["King, Andrew D."],"dc:date.available":["2019-04-24T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This thesis documents four distinct post-WWII North American writers and artists—the poet John Berryman, the poet John Ashbery, the classicist and writer Anne Carson, and the photographer Nan Goldin—who expanded traditional definitions and practices of portraiture. Their works—The Dream Songs, “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror,” Nox, and The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (and “The Cookie Portfolio”)—developed new ways of representing human subjectivity and the self that integrated the influences of Romanticism, Modernism and Postmodernism, but were not defined by these movements. In an era when notions of autonomous art and human identity became fractured, they picked up the pieces and rearranged them to make portraits (within-self-portraits) that put personhood and mortality at the center of their art.
In addition to close readings and comparisons of the poems, texts, and photographs, this thesis will situate the above and related works in their literary- and art-historical contexts. It will also reference relevant theoretical frameworks applied to these works and genres by critics and scholars.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3185"],"dc:subject":["American Literature","American Studies","Modern Literature","Photography","Contemporary American Poetry","Elegy","Postmodernism"],"dc:title":["“Whispers Out of Time”: Memorializing (Self-) Portraits in the Work of John Berryman, John Ashbery, Anne Carson, and Nan Goldin"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Liberal Studies"],"thesis:degree_level":["Master"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts"],"thesis:institution_name":["The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:59:21Z"}