Du syntagme au paradigme: les «épisodes» du roman dessiné

The purpose of this study is twofold. First, to analyze the place and function of the chapter in a little-known genre, the « roman dessiné ». This analysis is based on a comparative approach to this almost forgotten cultural practice, at the crossroads of comics, cinema and photo-novel. Secondly, to uncover some functional features of the chaptering of the novel drawn in relation to its modes and media of publication (serial narrative versus full narrative, circulation within women’s magazines), in the hope of raising new questions in the study of the chapter in general.