A Comparison of Relationship between Text and Picture in the Selected Iranian and Contemporary American-European Illustrated-Fiction Books Based on the Theory of Maria Nikolajeva and Carole Scott

Illustrated-fiction books are special forms of art that are the combination of text and picture. The relationship between text and picture in this genre is diverse and variegated, and has different effects on the audience; however, little research has been done about it. The goal of this research is to compare text/picture relationship in the selected Iranian and contemporary American-European illustrated-fiction books with respect to the elements of story. The unit of analysis is word, sentence, paragraph, single spread, double spread, context, picture and the whole story. This research is based on Maria Nikolajeva and Carole Scott’s view. Yet, it is not merely limited to their theory. Therefore, besides descriptive-interpretive approach, it has also applied the interpretive-abstract approach. The investigation of the works is done via Mayring’s (2000) deductive and inductive content analysis. As the consequence of such a reading, the theoretical framework of the mentioned categories is elaborated more. For the first time, some significant and effective findings are obtained with regard to illustrated-fiction books which remind the society of children literature some of the ways through which text and picture are interwoven in this type of literature as a specific form of art. Regarding the interaction of text/picture, this research demonstrates that Iranian and contemporary American-European stories have significant differences. In the contemporary American-European stories, the interaction between text and picture is more artistic, meticulous, dynamic and full-fledge. Contrary to contemporary American-European stories, this interaction in Iranian works seems less subtle and narrative, and there are deficiencies which seem to be the result of separation of writer and illustrator. Among these works, there are similarities such as linguistic independence of text and picture that perhaps reflects the general and fundamental aspects of relationship between text and picture in the illustrated-fiction books.