In Asterios Polyp, Mazzuchelli uses visual motifs to characterize individuals. We have seen similar devices used by other authors/artists but not to this extent.
Mazzuchelli uses changes in dialogue boxes and in how characters are drawn to create visual identities. This is part of the.larger theme of the novel: that reality is in some ways an extension of the self. Hence each character is completely unique visually.
[Apparently most of my post did not get published, so here is a second take at it, I guess]
In Asterios Polyp, Mazzuchelli uses visual motifs to characterize individuals. We have seen similar devices used by other authors/artists but not to this extent.
Mazzuchelli uses changes in dialogue boxes and in how characters are drawn to create visual identities. This is part of the larger theme of the novel: that reality is in some ways an extension of the self. Hence each character is completely unique visually and their perceptions of each other are unique.
What is interesting about this visual identity is that it is not so much about how the characters look as how they are represented. This is a key distinction in this novel because of the “presence”, both as narrator and dream, of Asterios’ still-born identical twin brother Ignazio. Even though these characters look identical they are not represented the same way. This is especially evident when Asterios dreams he finds Ignazio working in the Major Auto Repair shop, and Ignazio tells him how he got to be there, detailing Asterios’ own life story. In this dream the lines between these two characters gets blurred by their identical features, identical lives, etc. Though they are dressed differently in this scene, they are both dressed as we’ve seen Asterios dressed before. The image we get of Ignazio corresponds directly with the image of Asterios we’ve been seeing throughout the rest of the book. Despite all of this identicalness, however, it is quite clear who is who, because each character is represented differently. Asterios has the familiar rigidly rectangular text boxes with a simple, functional font, while Ignazio’s, whose narration we’ve been reading throughout, are cloudlike with irregular fonts. Ignazio’s dialogue is instantly recognizable because it matches up with what we’ve seen as his only representation all along.
Identity and representation are very much entwined in this book. Even characters like Ignazio who do not really exist have a visual identity through dialogue boxes, fonts, and representations from the perspectives of other characters.