Illustrated alphabet-books as aesthetic and literary “artifacts”: an approach to its poetics

Abstract

The aim of this work is to develop a poetics of contemporary alphabet-books and an analysis of the reception processes that are proposed to the modern reader. A diachronic approach that examines the development of the forms and functions of these books is adopted. From its primary didactic function as a resource to help children to learn how to read, the illustrated alphabet-books have led, mainly from the nineteenth century, to very diversified and innovative approaches that incorporate many literary and aesthetic resources, as well as an original amalgam of traditional and contemporary genres. Some alphabet-books published in recent decades are a paradigmatic example of the presence of the main features of postmodern fiction in children’s literature. The analysis is illustrated with a representative sample of alphabet-books published both in Spain and abroad, from the origins of the genre to this day, with special attention to those edited in Spain.