How to Tell a Story without Words: Time and Focalization in Shaun Tan’s The Arrival (2006)

Abstract

This essay analyzes the main narrative strategies used by Australian artist Shaun Tan in his 2006 wordless graphic novel The Arrival. Following a medium-specific narratological approach, which takes into account the characteristics of the comics medium, the article explores the role that frames, gutters, panels, and other constitutive features of comics play in the representation of narrative time. In addition, the essay addresses how focalization is configured in the graphic novel, proposing a medium-specific typology of the different modes of focalization that can be appreciated in The Arrival