Rethinking Propriety in the Age of Instantaneous Photography: E. W. Hornung'sCamera Fiend

Abstract

E. W. Hornung's novel The Camera Fiend (1911) imagines a frighteningly extreme vision of photography. This text leverages an existing discourse about the camera fiend—an amateur photographer who intrudes on strangers to capture snapshots of vulnerable moments. I argue that an examination of Hornung's version of the camera fiend, including its conflation with the representation of the scientist, illuminates the logic of threatening liminality and monstrous synthesis in the relationship between photography and existing social conventions. The text also proposes a solution to these cultural fears by repairing social disruptions, but it does so at a cost that is untenable.