Reading and Seeing: The Artistic Use of Visual Features in Contemporary Novels

Recent decades have seen an increase in novels artistically utilizing their printed features, such as font and formatting. However, the artistic possibilities of visual features in printed literature meant to be read to oneself are rarely discussed as philosophically or artistically interesting. I identify and dismiss two attempted justifications for this omission and locate their origins in modernism and its insistence on medium purity. I argue that this view of the purity of the text should be abandoned. Finally, I examine several border cases that may pose problems if we take seriously the artistic role of the visible in literature.