Author(s): Zhang Bingqi

Abstract: This article conducts an interdisciplinary study and offers a corrective to previous scholarship that has routinely overlooked the role of visual narrative in “Rip Van Winkle”. Visual narrative skills -- such as the use of color and light, ekphrasis, comic strip via phrasing, two-dimensional variable focalization -- not only elaborate, specify, and extend the characterization of the protagonists, but also act as a microcosm of social transition in 19th century America. This paper argues that Irving portrays the anxiety over transition through visual narrative in the short story.

Keywords: “Rip Van Winkle”, Visual Narrative, Anxiety over Transition

Article Info: Received: 17 Jan 2026; Received in revised form: 15 Feb 2026; Accepted: 20 Mar 2026; Available online: 24 Mar 2026

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.112.37