"Meticulously tracing the network of connections between Benjamin's and Barthes's visions of the encounter between photograph and viewer, this book performs an invaluable critical service. Kathrin Yacavone's discussion will be required reading for anyone seriously interested in photographic phenomenology or who has ever felt the singular impact of a photographic image." -- Michael Sheringham, FBA, Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature, All Souls College, University of Oxford, UK "This meticulously researched and enlightening study will be essential reading for anyone seeking in-depth immersion in the theory, history, and affective content of photography in two of its key explorers. The book makes a captivating case for thinking Benjamin and Barthes together . A fascinating book." - Timothy Mathews, University College London, UK, French Studies , vol. 68 "This first book-length comparative study of Benjamin's and Barthes's work on photography addresses head-on the ethical phenomena involved in producing and reading photography." - Elizabeth Stewart, Associate Professor of English, Yeshiva University, New York and author of Catastrophe and Survival: Walter Benjamin and Psychoanalysis.

"The book offers a detailed comparison of two of the most influential photography critics/theorists in the 20th century. While Benjamin and Barthes are often mentioned alongside each other, their respective theories have not been systematically and extensively compared. Given the towering status of both writers both within (critical) theory more generally and within photography studies more specifically, this study will mark a welcome addition to two important and further expanding fields of scholarship." -- Carolin Duttlinger, University Lecturer in German & Fellow of Wadham College, University of Oxford, UK "The book introduces valuable interdisciplinary analogies that only occasionally, if ever, have been applied to the study of the photography's history and theorization, such as Derek Attridge's concepts of 'singularity' and 'event,' Giorgio Agamben's writings about 'demand,' and Marcel Proust's theme of 'involuntary memory.'" - Kris Belden-Adams, University of Mississippi, H-France Review.