Reading Other People’s Minds Through Word and Image

This article considers how emotions can be conveyed through the interaction of word and image in picturebooks addressed to young readers. The theoretical framework employed in the article develops ideas from cognitive literary theory, adapting it to the specific conditions in which there is a signif...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inChildren's literature in education Vol. 43; no. 3; pp. 273 - 291
Main Author Nikolajeva, Maria
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.09.2012
Springer
Subjects
Affective Behavior
Childrens Literature
Education
Empathy
Illustrations
Language and Literature
Language Education
Linguistics
Literary Devices
Original Paper
Perspective Taking
Picture Books
Psychological Patterns
Reader Response
Reader Text Relationship
Social Sciences
Sociology
Verbal Communication
Picturebooks
Emotions
Cognitive poetics
Affective response
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:This article considers how emotions can be conveyed through the interaction of word and image in picturebooks addressed to young readers. The theoretical framework employed in the article develops ideas from cognitive literary theory, adapting it to the specific conditions in which there is a significant difference between the sender’s and the recipient’s cognitive levels. The concept of emotion ekphrasis is used to demonstrate the various ways of representing emotions, and special attention is paid to the issues of mind-reading, empathy and other aspects of recipients’ affective engagement. The theoretical argument is illustrated by picturebooks by Max Velthuijs, Shaun Tan, Anthony Browne, and Maurice Sendak.
ISSN:0045-6713
1573-1693
DOI:10.1007/s10583-012-9163-6