“setting” in the wordless novels by Franz Masereal

Abstract

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to study the use of “setting” in the wordless novels by Frans Masereel (1889 – 1972), the Belgium artist and graphic designer whose works are considered to be in the Expressionist movement. The scope of this research is to study settings in 5 wordless novels of Frans Masereel. The topics of this study are 1. the use of settings as the location for the story and 2. the use of settings to express emotions and feelings of characters. The selected wordless novels using in the study and analysis are the widely famous and well-received works of Frans Masereel, namely, (1) Twenty-Five Images of a Man's Passion, 1918,  (2) Passionate Journey, 1919, (3) The Sun,  1919, (4) The Idea, 1920 and (5) The City, 1925. From 5 wordless novels, it is found that, for 1. the use of settings as the location for the story, the artist gradually gave more importance to settings in his later books and settings interact with characters in the book “The Idea”, which has the comparative narration and is more complicated than other books, and for 2. the use of settings to express emotions and feelings of characters, the artist distorted the exterior of the building to express the mental state of characters. However, when being inside the building, the artist did not distort settings but create the new graphic picture from spaces to narrate abstract emotions and feelings instead. The artist distorted the exterior of the building as the way to narrate a complicated story or a story which requires a lot of imagination ,while he created a graphic picture to communicate the mental state of characters inside the buildings, which is not as much complicated as the story happened outside.