图文结构和叙事主题的共生关系——以Something from Nothing为例

The Symbiosis of Image-Text Structure and Narrative Theme—Taking Something from Nothing as an Example

图像和文字是多模态文本中最常见的两种模态,二者的地位和关系随着科技发展和信息交流方式的演进在不断变化。改编自犹太民间故事的绘本Something from Nothing运用页面布局、图画设计和文字编排等策略,将图文结构和叙事主题充分融合,成功表现了故事主题。作者用外部边框、封面图文位置设计、纵向三联结构、纵向二联结构及纵向四联结构表达文字以及掌握文字运用能力的Joseph是犹太文化传承主体的叙事主题。绘本图画的多层次叠放、表征不同世界图画的摆放位置、图画间元素上的重合和关联以及怀旧的暖色调传递叙事中的“恒久”和“传承”主题。绘本语言部分运用修辞手段、特殊书写形式和排版方式等隐喻符号,传递稳定安全、代际延续、文化传承等主题意义。绘本图文通过“成分粘合”及元素意义吻合和双关融合为连贯整体,表达了对犹太文化传承的愿望和信心,同时也映证了文字模态的强大功能和不可动摇的地位。

As two commonest modalities in multimodal discourse, image and text undergo constant changes in their statuses and interrelations following developments in science and technology as well as evolutions in ways of information exchanges. Something from Nothing, a picture book adapted from a Yiddish folktale, uses layout, image and typographic design to integrate its image-text structure with its narrative subject and thus express a distinct theme. The picture book’s vertical triptych, diptych and quadriptych, together with the frames on its pages and the positioning of its cover page’s image and text, all convey its narrative theme that writing, as well as young Joseph, thanks to his ability of writing, is the carrier and transmitter of the Yiddish culture. The picture book’s multilayered images, which represent different worlds and are carefully placed on each page, along with overlapping elements in its images and text as well as its nostalgic warm hues, communicate the theme of “eternity” and “inheritance”. Its text, in which metaphorical signifiers like rhetorical devices, idiosyncratic typography and typesetting are used, also speaks of messages of stability, continuation and inheritance of the Yiddish culture. Finally, the picture book’s image and text are incorporated into a coherent whole through pun, “componential cohesion” and synonymy between image participants and verbal forms, expressing the wish and faith in carrying forward the Yiddish culture and affirming the powerful, unswerving status of the text modality in interpersonal communications.