James Elkins

James Elkins is an art historian and critic who works at the Art Institute in Chicago. His academic writing focuses on the history and theory of images in art, science, and nature. Recent books include What Photography Is, written against Roland Barthes’s Camera Lucida; Artists with PhDs, second edition; and Art Critiques: A Guide, third edition. Since 2015, he has focused on experimental fiction. The five-volume novel Five Strange Languages is being published by Unnamed Press. It has over 800 images, but no fine art. The opening volume is Stories, Like Illnesses.

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