Multimodal literature and experimentation

The term “multimodal literature” refers to a body of literary texts that feature a multitude of semiotic modes in the communication and progression of their narratives. Such works are composed not only of words, type-set on the page in block fashion as has become publishing convention. As shall be seen in the course of this chapter, they experiment with the possibilities of book form, playing with the graphic dimensions of text, incorporating images, and testing the limits of the book as a physical and tactile object. In this introduction, I describe multimodal literature, accounting for how it can be seen as experimental, while in section II, I gloss its connections with other literary movements, genres, and forms of writing. Section III presents a historical overview of the development of the multimodal novel. Finally in section IV, I suggest a taxonomy for different types of multimodal literature.