Chapter 5 Dissolving the Frame

Abstract

This chapter traces Stein’s sustained experiment with figure–ground relations by reading the landscape play Capital Capitals (1923) in sequence with a preceding text, “Why Are There Whites To Console. A History In Three Parts” (1922), and a subsequent text, “Subject-Cases: The Background of A Detective Story” (1923). Voris shows conclusively that these are members in a shared compositional task and demonstrates the rewards of a compositional method of interpretation. Having begun with a scenic mode, Stein now creates incessant flux, or movement without a frame and stable perspective. As Stein tries first one figure–ground configuration after another, the results differ dramatically in temporal effects and movement. “Why Are There Whites to Console” dissolves the framed space of landscape into lively motion, whereas movement comes to a near standstill in “Subject-Cases.” Voris explains that the texts are making sense of the compositional problem at hand.