On The Literary Era Graphic Novel The Next Image

As a new literary style emerged in image times, graphic novels present distinctive literariness. Unlike other kinds of graphic text, in graphic novels, images and written words together contribute to narrate the story and convey implication of the book regardless of priority. The intertexture of images and words makes the books be more literary. This kind of literature is also different from traditional literary books because of the addition of images. On account of the wide audience and literariness, this paper take Jimmy’s graphic novels as an example and the analysis is implemented from the aspect of literariness to explore the special fascination of graphic novels.Apart from the introduction and the conclusion, the full text is divided into four chapters. The introduction summarizes the development history of picture books and graphic novels, so as to separate the graphic novels which are defined as a new kind of literary style from general picture books. This paper attempts to investigate the graphic novels under the context of image and literariness to reveal the distinct literariness of graphic novels on the one hand, and to reflect the fate of literature on the other hand.The first chapter discusses the formation and flourishing context of graphic novels and elaborates the reason why to place graphic novels under the literariness theoretical vision to study. As a kind of book with both pictures and texts, graphic novels bring a new meaning to literature. The combination of pictures and texts makes literariness extend to image field and generates different literariness from traditional literary novels.The second chapter mainly discusses the graphic novels’ distinctive literariness because of the combination of pictures and texts from the aspect of relationship between graphical and writing text. Images and words complement and interpret each other and express the meaning together. The colliding of two different narrative patterns forms graphic novels’special spatial and temporal juxtaposition of narrative mode and presents aesthetic characteristics with poetry and philosophy.The third chapter discusses the spirit significance of graphic novels’ literariness. Same as traditional literary works, excellent graphic novels can also reflect and criticize various problems existed in human society and point to the transcendence of reality eventually. Visual texts make this reflection be more emotional and critical intensity be more modest. The graphic novels are skilled in relieving people’s emotion and spirit as well as realizing specific treatment function of literature in the process of experiencing and perceiving the past and dreamland, and thus build people’s spiritual homeland.The fourth chapter discusses the erosion of literature itself by image and consumption. An analysis is made on the adherence of graphic novels to literariness with the form of innovation, and it also proves literariness is the foundation of the reason why literature can be able to exist forever.As a new form of literature, the graphic novels show an extension of the literariness by the intertexture of images and words. Texts full of images and consumption features can stand the test of time only associated with literariness, otherwise they may just be passing fad.