Text-Illustration Transmutation: A Model for the Analysis of its Effect on the Dynamics and Functions of Children’s Books

Abstract

The present paper aims to apply theoretical aspects of translation studies to the analysis of picture books. For this purpose, it introduces a three-stage analytical model aimed at the study of text-picture transmutations in the aforementioned genre. In the first stage, the information that the visual element (picture) conveys, adds, omits or modifies compared to the verbal element (text) is identified using different translation strategies and procedures. In a second stage, these results are used for the study of text-picture dynamics, which determine the message that both elements' convergence will eventually transmit. In the third one, the information that stems from the previous stages is used to identify some of the main functions of children´s literature and to establish to which extent they are foregrounded or overshadowed by the interrelationship between texts and pictures. As a means to exemplify the application of this analytical model, the paper studies various pas sages and their corresponding illustrations from Marla Frazee's A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever.