Materiality, Metafiction and “The Reality of Fantasy”in Contemporary Picturebooks

Abstract

According to many scholars, picturebooks are artefacts that deserve not only to be read but also cherished. Artists and publishers nowadays experiment more and more with book architecture in order to attract consumers. As a result, picturebooks in interesting shapes and different sizes, featuring impressive fabrics and boasting odd paper qualities and unusual textures are published, imbued with aesthetic and ludic appeal. The use of cuts, flaps, foldouts, envelopes, slipcases, die-cuts, pop-ups, and tabs in picturebooks, all challenge the traditional reading process, as readers must carefully observe their physical, multisensory and interactive elements so as to interpret the denotative and connotative meanings of the picturebooks and participate in storytelling. Those materials also draw attention to the status of books as objects, dissolving the boundaries between fiction and reality. Based on previous academic research regarding the differences between concepts such as narrativity and nonnarrativity, fiction, nonfiction and metafiction, and the material aspects of picturebooks, this article correlates the concepts of metafiction and materiality. It discusses the role of movable parts in picturebooks and the way they offer readers a playful experience, compelling them to embed that narratives are artefacts of fiction and making them aware of the interplay between reality and illusion, allowing the latter to become part of their world.