De l’image narrative à l’image narratrice. Ce que la théorie de Genette fait dire sur Mélusine
Abstract
It is traditional to speak of the narrativity of an image, as soon as it transposes a narrative, or if it includes elements of temporality. This article proposes to widen the area of competence and the prerogatives of the image: the image would not be only “narrative” but “narrator”. It is indeed able to take in charge all the functions of the narrator as Genette describes them in Figures III. This theoretical proposition is demonstrated by means of a manuscript of Mélusine de Coudrette (BnF fr. 24383). The image can take on the five functions of the narrator according to Genette; six in reality, because we note the necessary dissociation of the explanatory and ideological functions. The miniatures do not only “tell” a story (narrative function), they participate in the organization of the narrative and the temporality of the events (function of management), establish a link with the reader (function of communication), provide explanations (explanatory function), support the ideological purpose of the text (ideological function), transmit an emotion (testimonial function). This reflection makes it possible to account for the role of images in the arrangement of the text within the manuscript and to reverse the role of text-image subordination, while opening perspectives on the narrative function of images in other media.
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