CHAPTER 3: PLAY AND IMAGINATION THEORY THROUGH THE LENS OF NARRATOLOGY
3.1. Narratology through a postmodern lens 1. Narratology
3.1.2. Narrative within image and text
An image exists in two parts, one being a natural kind that visually describes what it is (for example, the image of a flower is meant to “capture” the flower rather than
describe it) and the other that has more of a non-natural interpretation where it is reliant on the unpacking of the word itself for meaning (Mitchell 1986: 43-44). Similarly,
34 Although it can be argued that an image draws the viewer in to the focal point first and then the eye is led around the composition based on certain visual cues intentionally placed by the artist. Perhaps it is better to emphasise that an image requires a first glance look and then a deeper look in order to truly read and analyse its contents.
35 It should be noted that this perspective privileges vision above all other senses.
Mitchell notes that text is also split into the natural, being words that seem like images (for example words that use onomatopoeia and sound like the thing it represents) and the other, where words are simply random indicators of their meaning (Mitchell 1986:
43-44).36 I understand the alphabet as a kind of coded text as each letter represents a phoneme from spoken language. When written out, it shows the symbolic values of spoken language. Text can be defined as a language that exists on a two-dimensional surface and depending on how it manifests in design, its meaning can be altered. One must understand how to unpack images and texts so that one can read the text like an image, allowing the image to be decoded like a visual alphabet.
Bal describes a narrative according to three components: text, story and fabula. In her book Narratology – introduction to the theory of narrative (2009), she refers to text as the words that convey the narrative, like the material thing that the audience engages with. In Onega and Landa (1996: 6), Bal further defines this as a collection of “linguistic signs”. The story refers to the aspects of a narrative and how they are arranged, like the characters within the story or the setting in which the story takes place. Fabula can be described as the raw material, the core of the narrative, like the basic synopsis of the narrative. The story (and its aspects) is arranged with the text (and its words) around its core, the fabula. Fabula specifically refers to a narrative’s chronological following whereas syuzhet is the nonlinear features of the narrative that are
reintroduced as the story unravels (Pantaleo 2004:1). Bal uses the term “focalization”
to refer to the perspective of the audience who sees and interprets the narrative. While written text is an object that is perceivable and narrative is the way in which the object is perceived, an intermediary step is necessary to make the connection between object and narrative content (or ‘fabula’; Onega and Landa 1996: 6). For example, both a picture and text are objects that can be perceived, while ‘fabula’ is the contents of the
36 For example, the word “breathe” sound like it is full of breath when it is said aloud and can appear to hold more breath depending on how the designer chooses to display the word. I am fascinated by the overlap of meaning in South African languages where we see Afrikaans and Nguni words relating more in sound and visuals to an object than the English term does.
picture and text. However, Bal emphasises that how the object relates to the content depends on who is perceiving or understanding the object, that is, the focaliser.
Similarly, Nodelman (1998: 2) posits that every picture book tells three stories: the verbal, the visual, and the third one that relates to ‘‘ironies” that are pointed out by the differences between the verbal and the visual, or in Bal’s terms, the focalization. This system allows for text and image to cooperate together with the same end goal. But Maria Nikolajeva and Carole Scott (2000: 225-226) devised a further organization of symmetrical, enhancing, complementary, counterpointing and contradictory interaction between text and image, which causes words and pictures to repeat each other. These two methods are relevant to note when analysing the text and images of picture books for this study.
Professor of Education and Literature, Laurence Sipe (1998: 99) presents Nodelman’s explanation taken from philosopher Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s theory on how images and text are taken in differently. Text exists within time and therefore requires a set period in order to follow it from one point to the next, whereas an image is taken in all at once as the viewer observes it. Furthermore, text is found on a surface and requires structure in order to follow each sentence, each word and each letter and, when intentionally arranged, these form ideas. Without this structure, the letters are simply received as symbols and are not interpretable. Added to that, how the symbols are depicted also gives further information about how to read its meaning. For example, a certain font or script tells the viewer how to read the text and the readable letters take on a visual form. Whereas an image exists within a space and this space often gives context to the image, adding to its interpretation. It might be that the space is an art gallery or, in the context of this document, a picture book, and this context tells the reader how to decipher its content. It can therefore be said that the viewer/reader experiences text and image differently based on how these communicative devices exist (Sipe 1998: 99). The viewer or reader is being challenged to jump between these two different cognitive systems when engaging with the picture book, stimulating the
ability to problem solve. Another difference in how individuals experience image and text is that text encourages one to keep reading, to move forward, to make sense of it, whereas an image asks for a pause to contemplate and gain a greater understanding (Sipe 1998: 100-101). Barthes’ interpretation of the relationship between image and text is explained in three parts known as The three messages. Anchorage refers to how text allows the reader to interpret the image, and this is mostly seen in advertisements and images for journalistic purposes (Barthes 1977: 40-41). Whereas illustration does the inverse where the images give meaning to the text (Barthes 1977: 38). Lastly, relay shows image and text to be of equal function and is found in cartoons and comic strips (Barthes 1977: 41). Barthes’ last two methods of illustration and relay can be used to analyse images and text for the sake of this study, to understand how the imagery gives meaning to the narrative and how the two are of equal importance.