데이비드 위즈너의 『시간상자』 : 미장아빔을 통한 시각적 시사

Abstract

The use of "mise-en-abyme" in David Wiesner's Flotsam is analyzed in this research. This wordless picture book constitutes a highly coherent and dense narrative pivoting around a camera and photographs. Mise-en-abyme is a technique which is applied within a text through a recreation of images or concepts referring to the textual whole: examples include a "play within a play", "film within a film" or "image within an image". In Flotsam, this literary technique is employed using shots, frames, and subjects. All of these are essential in photography. Diverse shots create a mise-en-abyme thanks to the play between their differences and similitudes. Another factor which concerns the mise-en-abyme is the frames blurring the boundary between the real world and an imaginary one through the variation of their form and color. The last factor involved is the changing of subjects. Several photos show identical compositions, but with different subjects. The sameness of the compositions creates a repetition, however with a slight difference thanks to a discrepancy in the subjects. Based on a tense relationship between resemblance and dissemblance, the mise-en-abyme creates the expectation that the story will continue to repeat itself even after the end of the picture book. Therefore, this mise-en-abyme in the shots, frames and subjects propels an enlargement of the narrative.