First, I transformed Hito Steyerl’s definition and explanation of poor image in the first four paragraphs of the article “In Defense of the Poor Image” into the form of a dialogue between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan in “Invisible Cities”. The dialogue structure of “Invisible Cities” is essentially a metaphorical communication mode, which shows the collision of ideas between the two characters through dialogue, revealing philosophical contemplation and symbolic meaning. I found that when the theoretical arguments of “In Defense of the Poor Image” were transformed into this structure, the narrative style changed from direct, theoretical statements to indirect, exploratory communication. The ideas that were originally rooted in theoretical discussions are now placed in an open, debate-style framework, which makes the discussion more exploratory rather than a one-way output. Readers are invited to enter into an open dialogue and can reflect more freely on the meaning, value and contradictions of “poor images” from the perspective of the dialogue characters. This structure allows readers to put themselves in the role and have their own dialogues and debates in their hearts, thereby resonating with the text.
In “In Defense of the Image of Poverty”, Hito Steyerl uses the concrete term “poor images” to reflect on deep-seated issues such as globalization, capitalism, intellectual property rights, and digital communications. So when I translated “In Defense of the Image of Poverty”, I adopted the chapter structure of “Invisible Cities”. Through this chapter-by-chapter, multi-theme structure, I think about the social and cultural phenomena behind it from different angles and levels, forming a fragmented but internally related text form. This structural method allows the text to explore multiple meanings in different chapters, while creating a comprehensive understanding framework interwoven from different perspectives.
References:
- Calvino, I. (1974). Invisible Cities. Orlando: Harcourt Brace & Company. [Originally published 1972].
- Steyerl, H. (2012). In Defense of the Poor Image. e-flux journal, [online] 10.