The Reasons for the Growth of Illustrations in Classical Literature
Xingzhou Cheng
Illustration (School of Graduate Studies)
About this Item
- Title
- The Reasons for the Growth of Illustrations in Classical Literature
- Contributor Names
-
Cheng, Xingzhou (Author)
-
Reitschel, Barbara (Thesis advisor)
- Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York. Illustration (Degree granting institution)
- Date
- 2022
- Degree Information
- M.A. Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York 2022
- Department: Illustration
- Advisor: Barbara Reitschel
- Committee member: Brendan Leach
- Abstract
- Illustrations have been included as an essential part of classical literature since before the invention of the moveable type. Classical literature is defined as works generally accepted to be of excellent and enduring quality and about major cultural themes. Historically, such works have had various reasons to include illustrations. On one hand, authors have relied on art to explain and expand on the text and give an overall aesthetic to the theme. On the other hand, publishers used illustrations to attract new often less educated readers who had access to many types of books printed during and after the industrial revolution.
- While publishers and bookmakers made use of images long before the 19th century, it was from the Victorian Era, post the Industrial Revolution, that illustration became popular as an important part of literature in England. One example was Charles Dickens, a literary writer whose work Sketches by Boz (1836) was first published in two volumes with illustrations by caricaturist George Cruikshank. Although the use of caricature style illustration in classical literature decreased at the end of Dickens’ time, illustrators continue to explore new areas in the publishing industry, including illustrated gift books, artists’ books, children’s literature, and adult fiction, also in magazines and periodicals which resonated on both sides of the Atlantic from the 1890s. After Albert Kanter initiated his Classics Illustrated comic book series in the United States in 1941, classic story adaptation paved the way for the current trend of adapting nineteenth-century novels into graphic novel format.
- This qualifying paper will take the original illustrations and different illustrated adaptations of Sense & Sensibility, Wuthering heights, and Animal Farm as the research objects, comparing the similarities and differences in the way they were adapted, moreover providing interweaving reasons for the ever-increasing role of illustration from perspectives of technological innovation and publishing development. As the relationships between publishers, authors, editors, and illustrators have become more interrelated, illustrators themselves keep bringing new aesthetics and vibrancy to the book illustration market.
- Rights
- In Copyright
- The copyright for this work is held by its author/creator(s). Usage of this material beyond what is permitted by copyright law must first be cleared with the rights-holder(s). This work has been made available online by the Fashion Institute of Technology Gladys Marcus Library strictly for research and educational purposes. If you are the copyright holder for this work and have any objections to this work being made available online, please notify us immediately at [email protected].
- This item must not be sold to any third party vendors.
- Identifier
- FIT Repository ID: etd_000976
- Language
- English
Citation
Cheng, X. (2022). The Reasons for the Growth of Illustrations in Classical Literature [Master's thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York]. FIT Institutional Repository. https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/179201
Cheng, Xingzhou. The Reasons for the Growth of Illustrations in Classical Literature. 2022. Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, Master's thesis. FIT Digital Repository, https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/179201
Cheng, Xingzhou. "The Reasons for the Growth of Illustrations in Classical Literature." Master's thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, 2022. https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/179201