ABSTRACT
This chapter examines semiotic aspects of the materiality and physical form of the novel and considers how these aspects may best be handled within a multimodal stylistics framework for analysis of the novel. It also examines Kress and van Leeuwen's approach to the third dimension for analysis of the meanings created by the novel as a three-dimensional object. It focuses on the semiotics of paper and how this material aspect of the novel can be captured and systematised by means of social semiotic multimodal methodology. The chapter also focuses on the meaning created by the physical form of the cover and binding of the novel. The meaning created by paper in the novel is meaning that comes about at the level of production, most often without consulting the author of the novel. In some novels, though fewer and further between, the meaning of the paper is related more directly to the contents of the narrative.
