Until recently, the study of visual narratives seldom was placed in the foreground of art history. Rethinking Visual Narratives from Asia: Intercultural and Comparative Perspectives, therefore, marks significant progress in the interdisciplinary field of art historical narratology. The fourteen papers collected here, which were first presented at an international conference with the same title at the University of Hong Kong in 2009, analyze cases all across Asia and compare a variety of narrative formats, from scroll paintings (Dore J. Levy, Shane McCausland, Yeewan Koon, Leedom Lefferts and Sandra Cate), a printed game card (Sarah E. Thompson), and books (Catherine Stuer, Yonca Kösebay Erkan) to religious and political temples (Sonya S. Lee, Mary-Louise Totton, Charlotte Galloway, Alexandra Green, Dominik Bonatz, Mary Beth Heston). The authors employ a variety of methodologies in their readings of these sources, including network analysis (Totton), processual archaeology (Bonatz), and topography (Stuer, Erkan).
In her introduction to the collection, Alexandra Green not only discusses current scholarship on narrative theory and the structure of this collection, but also presents a clear summary of each paper. Essays by Julia K. Murray (“The Emperor's Mirror”) and McCausland (“Chōgonka Scroll 長恨歌圖 by Kano Sansetsu 狩野山雪 & Spring Morning in the Han Palace 漢宮春曉 by You Qiu 尤求”) examine elite products to explore how the Chinese narrative artworks were adopted and appropriated by different cultures, including France and Japan. Also taking a cross-cultural approach are the several comparative studies (by Green, Bonatz, and Lefferts and Cate) on mural paintings dedicated to particular deities in different countries or periods, which provide a fresh approach for art historical narratology and demonstrate the increasing importance of network analysis. Another striking feature of the volume is the attention paid to popular culture, such as the Genji card game (Thompson) and the Vessantara painted scrolls used in wat temples in Thailand and Laos (Lefferts and Cate). Koon's discussion of Su Renshan's paintings offers new perspectives on the relationship of text and illustration and an important redefinition of narrative for the Chinese cultural context.
Two essays on illustrated books, “Beyan-I Menazil” (Erkan) and “Images of the Floating Raft” (Stuer) remind us of the political or religious significance that scenic spots and geophysical landscapes could have for rulers or sponsors. As Erkan writes with respect to the illustrated Ottoman manuscript, “topographical features thus connect the page as they transform recto and verso pages into a large panorama. At the same time, as a narrative tool, they indicate the reading direction and the path of the army as it progresses from one settlement to another” (p. 96). Similarly, Zhang Bao's pictorial autobiography, Images of the Floating Raft, furnishes in Stuer's account a personalized version of China's global landscape. The illustrated book, it becomes clear, is itself an organic art form that offers another way of thinking about narrative progression that has received scant attention in scholarly writing to date.
In conclusion, the ambition of this anthology to redefine and explore new visual narrative materials is admirable. It renders a more comprehensive picture of the development of narrative art all across Asia.
