Anti-Reading or Transliteracy: The Case of Silent Books, Books for Watching and Picture Books

What is it about?

The research on letterless and iconic books is done for the purpose of provoking a debate in the theory of reading for the actual modalities of reading beyond letter text. The position of the author is that this is one of the creative ways of thinking over a broader definition of reading, relevant to a complex digital environment and its poly-modality. Silent or “mute” books, eccentric books “for watching”, iconic and visual books, are summarized in the term “silent books”. The examples of cinematographic and storyboard approaches in the “optical” book-creation are defined as rehabilitation of the visual communication modality in the publishing art. Parallel to this in the media sciences is observed emancipation of iconicity as an object for reading. The narrative in pictures as well as the letter narrative requires literacy in order to be read.

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Why is it important?

This is a new holistic type of literacy or transliteracy for communication with texts in plural modality with prevailing imagery and iconicity. The conducted synopsis is a proof that defining of the new transliteracy for managing with polyglotic and transmedia environment obligatory must be expanded in direction of non-letter perception or competence of visual reading. A definition of reading is proposed as a receptive process of indirect (media-based) informing, which is not dependent on the letter symbol and the visual analyzer.

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