CROSSROADS. ILLUSTRATED ALBUMS: CONSTRUCTION AND READING.

PRIZE FOR THE BEST MONOGRAPH IN HUMAN AND SOCIAL SCIENCES (2011), AWARDED BY THE UNE (UNION OF SPANISH UNIVERSITY PUBLISHERS). Illustrated albums are a particular type of book that has become a narrative form of our time. They feature a unique integration of text and illustrations, made possible by various artistic influences and social progress of all kinds. Furthermore, while they have always been considered particularly suitable instruments for the reading and aesthetic development of children and young people, the maturity they have achieved in recent decades has made them a type of book appreciated by readers of all ages. Within this framework, "Crossroads" seeks to explain the connections between illustrated albums and other narrative media and study the instruments that articulate their construction and reading processes. The first chapter focuses on explaining the features that characterize them and how they differ from other visual narratives that also combine text and images. The second addresses the narrative and structural construction of albums. The first part attempts to describe the process of creating their plots. The second part examines the particular system of communication between author and reader that exists within them. The third is an analysis of their graphic construction. The first part examines the mechanisms that transform a story into a sequence of images, which allow a continuous reality to be expressed through a discontinuous series of illustrations. The second part analyzes space not only as a frame of reference for the development of what is being told, but also as a narrative element, since in albums, space also constructs the story. The fourth part discusses the major formal options into which albums can be grouped. It attempts to convey a sense of the richness of this genre, its value as an instrument for developing artistic sensibility, and the possibilities of harmoniously combining content and graphic design. The fifth contains a review of the one hundred and forty-four illustrated and comic albums cited and handled in the book: editorial data of the editions used, plot and brief commentary.