Psychological Characteristics of Explication of Narration and Time in Graphic Novels

Abstract

The purpose of our article is to describe various narrative devices of the comicbook which can also enable the reader to identify to the characters in a newway by concretely positioning the reader inside the point of view of a certaincharacter, and, on its basis to propose psycholinguistic aspects of narrativediscourse.Methods of the research. The following theoretical methods of the researchwere used to solve the tasks formulated in the article: a categorical method,structural and functional methods, the methods of the analysis, systematization,modeling, generalization.The results of the research. It was underlined that the important part ofcomic book narration was also the point of view: who was watching and whatwas the object of this gaze; if a character was following something and in thenext panel we were shown this object of the gaze, the reader would be positionedas this character. This type of positioning is essential in comic book narration, asit has the possibility of affecting the meanings linked with the reading of thecomics.It was described the role of visual images, which helped the reader tounderstand the textual information. Through repetition the visual imagesbecome symbols, which mean that they begin to represent something elsethrough a rule or a shared agreement. These symbols become narrative, andact as parts of the narrative by the way of integrating the symbolic meaningslinked to them to new contexts. The symbols can even turn into metaphors, as forexample the recurring image of the Comedian being flung through the window,which may be interpreted as speaking of the violence hidden in all of us.It was shown that the type of transformation of visual information wasfamiliar from film studies, and it was a clearly visual way of narrating the pastprivate experiences of the character through external focalization, showing whatthe character had experienced in the past but from outside the character. Still,while reading the novel it is easy to notice how the use of visual elements toprovide smooth transitional moments in space and time is a practical advantageof a rich visual style that exceeds the content of the words. This playing withtemporal levels and transitional moments in time and space is in fact an essential quality of the narrative of «Watchmen», leading to the interpretation thatalongside power, time is one of the crucial overall themes of the graphic novel.Conclusions. Analyzing «Watchmen», the author of this article proposedsuch psycholinguistic aspects of narrative discourse, as: visual emphasis;focalization of information; epigraphs’ emphasis; meta-narrative presentationof the text; contrasting visual linkings; actualization of narrative potential.It was shown that the panel arrangement can deceive the reader, too.Various types of temporal situations that bear on our judgments of causalitymay be created through the juxtaposition of spatial fragments from differentshots. In several storylines within «Watchmen», two parallel narratives arepresented to the reader in juxtaposition, happening simultaneously, so that aparallel is drawn between them like in many other instances in the comic.