Die redenasie word met behulp van woord-beeldinteraksies gevoer. Eers word enkele narratologiese begrippe verduidelik aan die hand van bevatlike items uit die massakommunikasiemedia. Daarna word die lees van pikturale tekste aan die orde gestel en narratologiese onderskeidings toegepas op enkele mylpale in die geskiedenis van pikturale vertellings. Ter voorbereiding van die slotopmerkings oor die 'pikareske tradisie' word die hooflyn van die argument telkens onderbreek met komiese tussenspele waarin die voorafgaande onderskeidings gerelativeer word.
The argument is constructed from interactions between word and image. Some narratological categories are first explained by referring to common items from the mass communication media. A next section on the reading of pictorial texts introduces narratological distinctions subsequently applied to examples from the history of pictorial narratives. In preparation for the concluding observations on the 'picaresque tradition', comic interludes which relativise the preceding distinctions occasionally interrupt the flow of the main argument.
