Fact and Fiction in Ekphrastic Representations

How do we distinguish between fictional and factual texts? Is there an inherent difference between the language used in, for example, a poem, and a text in an art history book? Or is it merely a matter of context? Ekphrastic texts have a special place in discussions about fact versus fiction, since they often (though not always) relate in various ways to existing media products such as paintings, photographs and sculptures, and since they have been traditionally used as substitutes for actually seeing, for example, a work of art.

In this article I investigate ekphrastic poems and factual texts which represent the same art works, in order to discuss the issue of fact and fiction in different kinds of texts.