Verbal Visuality at the Service of Pathemization in Illustrated Books

Abstract

This work, mostly based on the Semiolinguistic Theory of Discourse Analysis, intends to discuss aspects of the verbal-visual semiosis in illustrated books regarding the process of pathemization, that is, the triggering of emotions from descriptive staging. It is assumed that pathemization, of an intentional nature, is activated in the text-reader interaction due to a manifested discursive planning in (verbal and visual) representations endowed with cultural valuation prone to reactive emotions. The observed complementarity between word and image in the analyzed illustrated books allows for not only a higher density of meaning, but also for the enhancement of qualities and categories that are not always “signifiable.” The symbolization by analogy updated in the images (visual or metaphorical), or in the superposition of both, complexifies signification, allowing not only for effects of meaning, but also for felt effects, stemming from knowledge and beliefs on which representations are founded, whether verbally or visually configured.