Camera Eye

...This work uses experimental modernist techniques to depict the state of America over the 30 years from the beginning of the 20th century to the beginning of the Great Depression. It is divided into 52 stories, each of which is about six men and women, and is interspersed with (1) 68 "newsreels," which are collages of newspaper article fragments and snippets of popular songs that hint at the historical background, (2) 51 "camera eyes," which depict the author's own experiences in a stream-of-consciousness style to show his relationship with the social situation, and (3) biographies of 27 famous people in prose poetry. The characters are crushed by the enormous social system and suffer unfortunate fates, and society itself reveals the contradictions of the capitalist system. ...

*Some of the terminology that mentions "camera eye" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…20世紀初頭から大不況が始まるまでの30年間のアメリカの姿を，モダニズムの実験的手法で描く。男女6名ずつの物語が総計52に分断され，その間に(1)時代背景を暗示する新聞記事の断片や流行歌の一節をコラージュした68の〈ニューズリール〉，(2)社会情勢と作者との関係を示すため，自身の体験を意識の流れ風に描く51の〈カメラ･アイ〉，(3)有名人27名の散文詩体の伝記，が挿入されている。登場人物は巨大な社会機構におしつぶされて不幸な運命をたどり，社会自体も資本主義体制の矛盾を露呈していく。…

※「カメラ・アイ」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報