CALIFORNIA INTERDISCIPLINARY CONSORTIUM OF ITALIAN STUDIES (CICIS)

Sarah A. Carey, "Imbriani's Innovation: Photography as Framework in Merope IV (1867)" winner 2010 prize for the best paper presented by a graduate student.

The committee found Sarah Carey's paper to be engaging, critically acute in its close readings, provocative in its argument for reconsidering Imbriani, and wonderfully suggestive in its explorations of the photos as a literary device in Merope IV. Carey's deft analysis reveals a writer whose engagement with the photographic image is both interesting and complex. Not only has Carey done a masterful job of arguing against Croce's dismissal of Imbriani's work as mere "bizzarrie," she has added an overlooked nineteenth-century Italian to the corpus of European writers whose work was influenced by photography.

Carey's paper also projects the confidence and maturity that come from close reading and immersion in one's topic. We found her essay to be well-written, cleverly argued, and just plain interesting and a pleasure to read. We were impressed by the way Sarah Carey manages to make quite intricate analyses and linkages look easy, and at times, even more impressed with the thoroughness and mastery of research into visual materials and textual primary and secondary sources that her essay evidences. We all learned from the essay and found to be persuasive from beginning to end. Please give Sarah our congratulations.

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