THE READER AND MULTIMODALITY: A CASE STUDY ON MARK Z. DANIELEWSKI’S THE FAMILIAR

Bukovec, Nejc (author), Lipovšek, Frančiška (mentor), Krevel, Mojca (comentor)

The present master’s thesis is an exploration of multimodal techniques and their cognitive impact on the reader on the case of Mark Z Danielewski’s pentalogy The Familiar. The pictorial turn as described by W. J. T. Mitchell finds contemporary society to be completely infatuated with the image. The shift towards the visual has been happening in literature as well, from Wagner’s Gesamtkunstwerk to Gibbon’s theory of the multimodal genre, and the present thesis places Danielewski’s series of novels at the very pinnacle of the multimodal experimentation. The novels mostly utilise the multimodal techniques for the purposes of characterisation and link the reader and the character through a process called doubly deictic subjectivity. In the thesis these notions are put to the test empirically. A study performed on actual readers confirms the cognitive link between the reader and the character to be higher in multimodally enhanced texts. As opposed to traditionally presented literature, multimodal enhancements also engender a higher engagement of the readers. The present analysis is far from definitive and limited in scope, but it does open up more avenues for further studies.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Mark Z. Danielewski, Alison Gibbons, multimodality, doubly deictic subjectivity, semiotics
• Work type: Master's thesis/paper
• Typology: 2.09 - Master's Thesis
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Year: 2024
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-154899
• COBISS.SI-ID: 188359683
• Publication date in RUL: 08.03.2024

BUKOVEC, Nejc, 2024, THE READER AND MULTIMODALITY:  A CASE STUDY ON MARK Z. DANIELEWSKI’S THE FAMILIAR [online]. Master’s thesis. [Accessed 17 May 2025]. Retrieved from: https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/IzpisGradiva.php?lang=eng&id=154899

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: BRALEC IN MULTIMODALNOST: ŠTUDIJA NA PRIMERU ROMANOV THE FAMILIAR MARKA Z. DANIELEWSKEGA

Abstract

Magistrsko delo raziskuje vpliv multimodalnih tehnik in njihovega kognitivnega vpliva na bralce preko primera pentalogije The Familiar Marka Z Danielewskega. Obrat k sliki, kot ga opisuje W. J. T. Mitchell, vidi sodobno družbo kot popolnoma prevzeto s sliko. Podoben prehod k vizualnemu je opazen v umetnosti in literaturi, vse od Wagnerjevega Gesamtkunstwerka do multimodalnega žanra Alison Gibbons, pričujoče magistrsko delo pa postavlja serijo romanov Marka Danielewskega na sam vrh multimodalne eksperimentacije. V romanih se multimodalne tehnike večinoma uporabljajo zavoljo karakterizacije in povezovanja bralca z liki v procesu, imenovanem dvojno deiktična subjektivnost. Te ideje so v delu testirane tudi empirično. Študija, izvedena s pomočjo dejanskih bralcev, potrdi hipotezo, da multimodalno ozaljšana besedila utrdijo povezavo med bralcem in fikcijskim likom. V nasprotju s tradicionalno predstavljeno literaturo lahko multimodalni dodatki vzbudijo več bralčevega zanimanja in interakcije. Čeprav študija s svojim omejenim dometom ne prinese dokončnih rezultatov, odpira vrata za morebitne prihodnje raziskave na tem področju.

• Keywords: Mark Z. Danielewski, Alison Gibbons, multimodalnost, dvojno deiktična subjektivnost, semiotika