61photograph’sdeficienciestherefromthe
start?Onewaytoexplorethisistotracethe
waysinwhichphotographshavebeenedited
andsequencedinillustratedbooksand
magazines.
In 1886 ,adecadebeforecinemaproper,
Le Journal illustrépublishedanextended
‘photo-interview’withthescientistMichel-
EugèneChevreul,ontheoccasionofhis
100 thbirthday.Twelveportraitsof
Chevreulinconversationwiththephoto-
grapherFélixNadarweresequencedand
captionedwithdialogue.^2 Theywerenot
shotintheorderinwhichtheyappear.
Whatmattersistheconstructionofanew
synthetictemporalitypacedbyreadingand
lookingattheassembledsequence.Wecan
seethiseffectmoreliterallyinanexample
fromthefollowingdecade.Acomicalpage
fromLa Vie illustrée( 1899 )featurestwo
menreadingthelatestnewsoftheDreyfus
Affair,amuch-debatedconvictionofa
Frenchsoldierforspying.Themenare
caricaturesofeachsideofpopularopinion.
Theirargumentturnsintoafightuntilthe
stateintervenesintheformofapoliceman.
Itanticipatesthefrontaltheatreofearly
silentfilmcomedy.Theseparateimagesdo
notrepresentcutsfromoneviewtoanotherbutaremorelikemoments
fromacontinuousview.
WhiletheChevreulpicturesaresomewhattheatrical,theydo
stemfromarealinterviewandareintendedtobereadassuch.There
isnothingparticularlynarrativeaboutthephotographs,buttheir
arrangementleadstoasequentialreading.TheDreyfuspicturesare
knowinglyartificialandprimitivelynarrative,withabeginning,middle
49 Paul Nadar, a page from ‘The Art of
Living a Hundred Years: three interviews
with M. Chevreul... on the eve of his 101st
year’,Le Journal illustré(5September1886).