Do pictures add to a writer's vision?

In the tradition of WG Sebald, authors occasionally punctuate their narratives with images. But why are words not enough?

The art of visual narratives ... Jonathan Safran Foer's second novel used pictures and coloured inserts. Photograph: Jim Cooper/AP

On page 122 of Aleksander Hemon's forthcoming novel The Lazarus Project, is a photograph of a dog sitting on a cracked concrete floor. It's a well-shot picture; the dog's expression and wild hair giving him the look, bizarrely, of Charles Dickens. But while there are descriptions of several dogs in the book, none appear to be the one in the photo. So why is it there? And more to the point, why is Hemon using pictures at all? Aren't words enough?

The Lazarus Project features a twin narrative, telling the story of a murder in 1908 and a present-day writer investigating the death. In both cases, the images are intended to add depth and resonance to both stories. The effect, however, is the opposite: their inclusion only suggests that Hemon lacks confidence in his present-day narrator, and the verisimilitude of his historical reconstruction. Last week, I asked a friend, and fellow Hemon admirer, what he thought about it all. "Sebald has a lot to answer for," he said.

Click here to View and comment on Guardian Blog - have you read or written a description that means words are enough?