Our Extraordinary Treatment of Everyday Things

& An Extraordinary Treatment: Multimodality and Interiority

Dissertation. For the award of Doctor of Philosophy (November 2017), Bath Spa University

Abstract

This dissertation comprises a multimodal novel and a critical study. The novel, Our Extraordinary Treatment of Everyday Things, is a polyphonic narrative that uses non-textual modes, including design, typography and illustration, to convey the story. The contextualising research, entitled An Extraordinary Treatment: Multimodality and Interiority, considers how non-textual modes are used to enrich characterisation, particularly interiority, in multimodal novels.

In the first chapter, I briefly introduce the field, defining key terms and concepts. In the second chapter I consider a selection of hybrid texts that use multimodality to enrich interiority. Using multimodality studies and narratology, I examine how authors use multimodality as a replication of, or metaphor for, neurodivergent cognition and explore whether this results in ‘othering’. The third chapter comprises an analysis of my own work, focusing on the use of design, typography and re-mediation. In the fourth, I offer final thoughts on the intersection of multimodality and representations of neurodivergent cognition.

Keywords

multimodality, neurodivergence, experimental writing, digital fiction, transmedia, Pry, Tender Claws, House of Leaves, Danielewski, A Song for Ella Grey, Almond, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Haddon.

Link to paper on researchgate.

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