The+Postmodern+Picture+book

Postmodernism is a genre of art, literature and architecture created in reaction against the principles and practices of established modernism. In other words, it questions and criticises the established norms and power relationships.
 * What is Postmodernism? **

When we look at picture books we need to ask ourselves: whose representation of the world are we seeing and whose attitudes and values are being conveyed?

A postmodern picture book often contains **Metafictive elements. ** These are designed to draw the reader’s attention to features of the text by interrupting the expectation or predictions that the reader may be making. Examples are when the narrative voice speaks to you eg. //Woolvs in the Sitee’s// final line is ‘join me’, or //The Wolf// when the young girl is looking at the reader on the front cover.

A picture book can create more specific and meaningful contexts to encourage a more complex response to the book. Through the selection and omission of particular words the author can create gaps in the narrative to invite the reader in. In some respects an illustration can provide too much detail and leave nothing for the reader to construct. Good illustration augments and leaves room for the reader, while poor illustration leaves nothing for the imagination or simply mirrors the written text.
 * Illustration **

The written and illustrative texts act together to produce a whole which emerges from the subtle interplay between the two parts. The words tell what the picture doesn’t show and the pictures show what the words don’t tell. Therefore, a number of readings are made possible by the interrelationship between the written and illustrative texts.
 * Meaning in picture story books **

When a reader begins to read a picture book both the written and illustrative text has to be read. The reader draws on their knowledge of sound/symbol relationships and word meanings. At a more sophisticated level the reader draws on their past experience and prior knowledge of words, pictures and books to read the book. The more the reader has to draw on the more successful the current reading will be. The reader may think to themselves: ‘This is a story like’ or ‘This picture is like the one in’ or ‘This character reminds me of’.


 * Intertextuality **– where readers bring all past experiences and prior knowledge about narratives with them as they begin to read a new text. In some cases the current text may draw on material from a previous text or texts in such a way the an intertexual reference has to be made by a reader before a full understanding can be gained.


 * Polysemic ** – a text can have many potential meanings and thereby be polysemic.