Journal of Literary Criticism

Journal of Literary Criticism

The Configuration of Time in the Visual Narrative of Varka and Golshah

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 Department of Art studies, Faculty of Research Excellence in Art and Entrepreneurship, Art University of Isfahan
2 PhD student in Islamic Art, Faculty of Handicrafts, Art University of Isfahan
10.22034/jlc.2025.536405.1754
Abstract
The relationship between narrative time and the story time is an important part of Genette's theory of narrative discourse. Based on the aforementioned theory, this study seeks to understand the configuration of the language of visual narrative in the illustrated edition of "Varka and Golshah". The goal is to show how the visual elements in the illustrations represent concepts such as order, linear time, and anachrony. By analyzing the illustrations and matching them with the concepts of temporal return, temporal advance, range, and extent, it will become clear that the visual narrative of this work has a complex and multilayered temporal structure. Although the narrative order in these illustrations is often aligned with the linear narrative of the literary text, in some cases it is accompanied by a return or anachrony to deepen the visual narrative. In the illustrations of this edition, we often encounter internal anachrony and co-narrative; in the sense that the retrospective and prospective parts of the narrative are placed within the temporal framework of the main narrative. By using visual suggestive signs such as the orientation of characters, the composition of scenes, and the elements of the placeholder, the illustrator has been able to portray the concept of time and its passage in a narrative and understandable way for the audience. In summary, the article emphasizes that visual narrative, despite media differences, can have a high capacity to represent temporal complexities, like written narrative, and has its own tools to reflect the temporal games of narrative.
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Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 30 November 2025

  • Receive Date 24 July 2025
  • Revise Date 16 November 2025
  • Accept Date 30 November 2025