The faces behind the words

In Closer to Home: The Author and the Author Portrait (Véhicule Press), Byrnes presents us with a top-rate book of photography; any of the images could be held up to students not only as excellent examples of portraiture but also for their impeccable technical qualities.

And the accent is definitely on the photography. While the theme of writing is by definition present throughout the book, it remains firmly in the background. The writers' works are not mentioned directly, nor are we given any substantial biographical information about each subject. Instead, Byrnes accompanies each photo with a brief account of his visit and the actual shoot itself.

As a result, anyone who rifles through the pages hoping for an intimate look at the writer at work or a glimpse of the private creative lair in which a favourite novel was written, will be disappointed. Byrnes fastidiously avoided the all-too-obvious tendency for literary subject to pose in front of an overstuffed bookcase or look up from a messy desk and computer screen. Instead, he set up his camera in their personal living spaces — their sitting rooms, their backyard gardens, their kitchens, and, in some cases, favourite spots far removed from their homes but still deeply personal in nature.

There's Rawi Hage on a snowy apartment rooftop; Yann Martel in Jeanne-Mance Park; Irving Layton at Maimonides Geriatric Centre; and Catherine Kidd on a Boul. St. Laurent rooftop, complete with pet iguana.

The subjects are all clearly Montreal-based, but the book does not claim to be a comprehensive who's who of the city's literary population, for there is a glaring omission — the obvious lack of French-language writers. As a result, there is no portrait of such heavyweights as Michel Tremblay or Roch Carrier, not to mention dozens of other possible candidates. Byrnes acknowledges this shortcoming by admitting that he could not have pulled off in French the quick, spontaneous conversation he considers necessary for creating the right mood.

Curiously, more than one-third of the 66 subjects seem to live in the Plateau, as if that neighbourhood is somehow more conducive to the creative process than anywhere else in Montreal. Still, no less than seven are Westmounters: Ted Phillips, Claire Rothman, Julia Keith, Julian Sher, Bill Weintraub, Michael Harris and the late Louis Dudek — whose 2000 portrait provides the book's most poignant moment, when Byrnes quotes the elderly poet as saying, “I’m just like Pierre Trudeau was, waiting to die.” • 'Closer to Home: The Author and the Author Portrait' by Terence Byrnes is published by Véhicule Press and is available at most bookstores.