Alix Ohlin: The Afterimage (July 2011)

Alix Ohlin explores how the idea of the afterimage, or that which lingers in our sight after a vivid visual sensation, might be applied to fiction.  Through close readings of “Killings” by Andre Dubus, To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, and “Wants” by Grace Paley, Ohlin shows how a writer can call up an image which reminds us of what came before, thus creating both echoes of the past and surprising visions of the future.