Depiction of home space in Portuguese picturebooks

Abstract

The purpose of this text is to present, characterise and reflect upon a corpus of Portuguese picturebooks, published between 1969 and 2010, which depict home living space, in order to identify and typify the evolution which occurred in its representation. A close reading of selected picturebooks can exemplify the evolution of the depiction of home space over time, by characterising not only the symbolic connotation of intimate and personal spaces in picturebooks, but also their relevance, i.e., the different levels of importance and visibility they acquire. The text also aims to identify the main trends emerging from the corpus regarding the main themes addressed and the different kinds of picturebooks included. Finally, the conclusions will underline the great development of Portuguese picturebooks, in terms of literary and visual quality, including the relevance of peritexts and of the materiality of the picturebooks.

Keywords

• picturebooks
• home space
• portugal
• family
• publishing