Book Illustration Of Chinese Fictions During The Ming And Qing Dynasties

Translating stories into visual representation has a long history in China. Stories and knowledge have been transmitted not only through oral and textural mediums, but also through various visual modes such as murals, seals, paintings, performances with scroll paintings, and book illustrations.This dissertation examines book illustrations in Chinese fictions produced during the Ming and Qing periods. I particularly investigate the ways in which narratives were visually translated and such visualized narratives were transformed into cultural products in the printing market as they reflected the contemporary knowledge and taste.Book illustrations of the Ming and Qing fictions were part of the book, establishing an inseparable relationship between the contents they represent and the formats they display. As literati writers’independent creativity became common in the publication of vernacular stories, their aesthetic consciousness and cultural conceptions came to reveal in their text, and at the same time literati taste emerged in the contents and format of book illustrations. This dissertation not only investigates visual representations of narratives in the book illustrations, but also analyzes the process in which the literati taste was commercialized through book illustrations based on observation of the aesthetic characteristics of the representations and their editorial formats.This dissertation is composed of four chapters, along with the Introduction and Epilogue.Chapter1traces the history of book illustrations of Ming and Qing fictions and their various formats. I first suggest the definition of book illustrations and consider their meanings in the book editing. I also investigate the origin of books with illustration and how the book illustration became popular in the Ming and Qing fictions. I categorize various formats of book illustrations into five and investigate the characteristics of each format and their significance in the book binding.Chapter2examines the iconography of narrative illustrations. I analyze how the visual language of book illustration was generalized and set into patterns by investigating the ways in which figures and narratives are visualized.Chapter3illuminates the literati taste couched in the book illustrations by highlighting the infiltration of antique objects in the designs of illustration, a phenomenon conspicuously found in the vernacular stories written during the late Ming and early Qing periods. The designs with antique objects not only served as decorations of book illustrations; rather, they elevated the status of the Ming and Qing vernacular fictions as something equivalent to the readings for knowledge or educating materials for the public audience.Chapter4illuminates the function of book illustrations as cultural products in the printing market. I discuss how the practical role and aesthetic function of book illustrations changed as the development of commercial book market. By comparing with designs included in Chinese popular encyclopedia and hobby books, I also suggest the common nature in the designs of book illustrations. Through these discussions, I show how the literati taste was commercialized in book illustrations.This dissertation discusses the literary context and cultural meaning of book illustrations rather than their artistic or art historical accomplishments, by focusing on their primary significance, i.e., paintings in the book. The major goal of this thesis is to reconstruct the original meaning and function of Ming and Qing fictions, not only as secular writings for reading, but also as cultural products to be sold and wasted.