Peter Rabbit and Voices in the Park Essay example -- Literary Analysi

The Tale of pecker Rabbit and Voices in the Park were published at either end of the twentieth century, a period which witnessed the creation of the newfangled picturebook for minorren. They are both extremely prestigious examples of picturebooks of their type, the one very traditional, the new(prenominal) surrealist and postmodern. The definition of picturebook engaged here is Baders an art form which hinges on the interdependence of pictures and words, on the simultaneous display of two facing pages, and on the drama of the turning of the page (Bader, quoted in Montgomery, 2009, p. 211). In contrast with a simple illustrated book, the picturebook can use alone of the technology available to it to affirm an indistinguishable whole, the meaning and value of which is dependent on the interplay between all or any of these aspects. Moebiuss claim that they can portray the intangible and invisible, ideas that escape easy definition in pictures or words is curiously relevant to th ese two reports. Potters book is, beneath its informative Victorian narrative, remarkably subtle and subversive in its attitudes towards childhood, and its message to its child readers. physiognomys Voices in the Park, on the other hand, dispenses with any textual narrative by his use of the devices of postmodernism, visual intertextuality and metaphor, he creates a work of infinite interpretation, in which the active involvement of the reader is key. Although The Tale of Peter Rabbit is not a modern picturebook, and was written to a diametric concept of childhood than Voices in the Park, it certainly falls within Baders description. Susan Hill has described the events of the book as reflecting the world of the Victorian babys room Naughtiness may be understood... ...h the message is conveyed. Potters juxtaposition of picture and word also rewards the reader for trusting the evidence of his or her eyes, rather than simply submitting to the authoritative voice. In comparison, Voices in the Park is infinitely complex and layered with meaning and symbol, wherever the reader should choose to specify it. Moebiuss statement is fully realised here as Browne combines all of the technology of his medium - the words as text and picture, use of symbol, intertextuality and space - to portray ideas that remain intangible, and concepts that are infinitely open to definition. In this he displays the complexity of his and his readers experience, in the way that Potter, in her own way, did of hers.