Margins of the Book: An Analysis of Book Design in Hsia Yü's Poetry

• Main Authors: Tai, Pei-yu, 戴貝羽
• Other Authors: Chang , Po-yen
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/49709676970147289682

碩士 === 高雄師範大學 === 視覺設計學系 === 99 === Book is a cultural carrier, while book design serves as a communication channel that transforms an abstract concept described in the text into visual imagery, allowing reading itself to become an individual activity. As Postmodernists claim that “the author is dead”, the textual content is still subject to the readers’ own interpretation. Therefore, the form of the book is the first medium directly presented to the readers. The form itself is also able to convey a message. Through book design, readers receive not only the textual expression, but also the space for interpretation by means of the five senses: vision, hearing, touch, smell and taste. Book design has turned into one component of the entire concept, which no longer functions as a packaging and decoration of the “book”, but as another form of textual presentation. By applying methods and cultural discourse into this research, the author analyzes the visual presentation of Hsia Yü’s Poetry, considers the language of “book design” independently, presents research questions and personal viewpoints, and further explores the relevance between contemporary cultural philosophy and book design. These are expected to provide another possible interpretation to “book design” based on cultural discourse. Research results reveal that Hsia Yü presents the "value", "shape", "color", "rhythm" and "voice" of poems in the “Poetry”, which is difficult yet readable. Through design, poetry no longer functions as a carrier of text, but provides language to the poetry form. Also, the meaning of poetry exists between readable / unreadable, poetry / non-poetry, picture / non-picture and book / non-book; this eliminates binary opposition as an important concept in the theory of Deconstruction.