Postmodernism in contemporary german picture books. An outline of the books by Hans Magnus Enzensberger / Michael Sowa, Jörg Steiner / Jörg Müller and Quint Buchholz

Abstract

The picture book is truly a difficult object of children's literature research because it operates different codes, with language as well as the image, and each one requires the competence of a another specialty. Because of its hybrid character literary criticism treats the picture book as a topic of minor importance and scholars in fine arts use to ignore it because it takes images in prison by words. It seems that the picture book does not really to the one or the other discipline. As a matter of fact there is a prejudice that arises from the pedagogical point of view: the use of pictures itself is at first glance a simplification and has to be used for an illiterate recipient. In this case the picture book is solely regarded as a tool for pre-school education. Actually this has been the main function of this medium for over 150 years. In fact the evaluation of a text as “like a picture book” or even “like a comic” is associated with negative criticism implying that these texts are not suited for an adult respectively sophisticated reader. Nevertheless 1 think, that this approach overlooks the fact that the narration definitely profits from the combination of verbal and visual elements and that it opens up many creative possibilities for the development of literature.