Lectures:  MW 1:25-2:50pm, 112 Houghton House
Office Hours: W 3:00-4:00pm, F 2:00-3:00pm, or by appointment, 208 Houghton House

The relationship between text and image assumes primary significance in the arts of Asia. Of especial import is the use of visual narrative, or the art of storytelling. This course traces the role of narrative in the arts of India, Central Asia, China and Japan, from the sculptural friezes at the Sanchi stupa to the murals at the Dunhuang caves to the handscrolls and picture scrolls produced by scholars and court artists. The course is designed as a series of case studies, through which we will examine both the special visual formats developed in Asia to facilitate the telling of tales as well as the specific religious, political and cultural contexts in which narrative is deployed. The course is cross-listed with Asian Studies, Women's Studies and Media and Society. It addresses Goals 5 (experience of a fine or performing art), 6 (an intellectually grounded foundation for the understanding of differences and inequalities of gender, race, and class) and 7 (knowledge of the multiplicity of world cultures).

Required texts:
*Aryasura, Once the Buddha Was a Monkey: Arya Sura's Jatakamala, trans. Peter Khoroche (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1989).
* Wu Hung, The Wu Liang Shrine: The Ideology of Early Chinese Pictorial Art (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1989).
* Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji, trans. Royall Tyler (New York: Penguin Books, 2001).
* Diana Hacker, A Pocket Style Manual, 4th ed. (Boston: St. Martin's Press, 2004).
* Sylvan Barnet, ed., A Short Guide to Writing about Art, 8th ed. (New York: Longman, 2004)—recommended for students new to art history.

Coursepack: Available on reserve at the Library. It includes:
* Julia K. Murray, "What Is 'Chinese Narrative Illustration'?" Art Bulletin 80, no. 4 (December 1998): 602-15.
* Robert Treat Paine and Alexander Soper, "The Yamato-e Tradition of Narrative Scrolls," Chap. 8 of The Art and Architecture of Japan, 3rd ed. (New York: Penguin Books, 1981), 133-57.
* Vidya Dehejia, "On Modes of Visual Narration in Early Buddhist Art," Art Bulletin 72, no. 3 (September 1990), 373-392.
* Akiyama Terukazu, "Continuity and Discontinuity in the Pictorial Composition of Handscroll Painting," trans. Juliann Wolfgram, Acta Asiatica 56 (1989): 24-45.
* Asvaghosha, "The Buddha-Karita," trans. E. B. Cowell, in The World of Literature, ed. Louise Westling et al. (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1999), 265-288.
* Dieter Schlingloff, Narrative Wall Paintings, Vol. 1 of Guide to the Ajanta Paintings (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1999), 4b-5a, 6b-7a, 39b-40a, 48b-50a.
* Burton Watson, ed. and trans., The Columbia Book of Chinese Poetry: From Early Times to the Thirteenth Century (New York: Columbia University Press, 1984), 93-95, 116-121, 123-124, 142-143.
* Hsio-yen Shih, "Poetry Illustration and the Works of Ku K'ai-chih," in The Translation of Art: Essays on Chinese Painting and Poetry, ed. James C. Y. Watt (Hong Kong: Centre for Translation Projects, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1976), 6-29.
* K. P. K. Whitaker, "Tsaur Jyr's 'Luohshern fuh,'" Asia Major, n.s. 4, no. 1 (1954): 36-56.
* Elizabeth Brotherton, "Beyond the Written Word: Li Gonglin's Illustrations to Tao Yuanming's Returning Home," Artibus Asiae 59, no. 3/4 (2000): 225-63.
* Hans H. Frankel, "Cai Yan and the Poems Attributed to Her," Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR) 5, no. 1/2 (July 1983): 133-156.
* Irene S. Leung, "Image and Text in the Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute," Chapter 3 of "The Frontier Imaginary in the Song Dynasty (960-1279): Revisiting Cai Yan's Barbarian Captivity and Return" (Ph.D. diss., The University of Michigan, 2001), 98-130.
* Earl Miner, "Some Thematic and Structural Features of the Genji monogatari," Monumenta Nipponica 24, no. 1/2 (1969): 1-19.
* Masako Watanabe, “Narrative Framing in the Tale of Genji Scroll: Interior Space in the Compartmentalized Emaki,” Artibus Asiae 58, no. 1/2 (1998): 115-45.
* Karen L. Brock, “Chinese Maiden, Silla Monk: Zenmyô and her Thirteenth-Century Japanese Audience,” in Flowering in the Shadows: Women in the History of Chinese and Japanese Painting, ed. Marsha Weidner (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1990), 185-218.
* Karen L. Brock, "The Making and Remaking of Miraculous Origins of Mt. Shigi," Archives of Asian Art 45 (1992): 42-71.
* Texts on Han Xizai, translated by Lara Blanchard.
* Lara C. W. Blanchard, “Revisiting Han Xizai: The Politics of Copying in the People’s Republic of China,” unpublished manuscript.
* W. G. Archer, The Loves of Krishna in Indian Painting and Poetry (New York: Grove Press, 1960), 26-113.
* John Seyller, “Introduction” and “The Hamzanama Manuscript and Early Mughal Painting,” in The Adventures of Hamza: Painting and Storytelling in Mughal India  (Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2002), 12-17, 44-51.
* Pramod Chandra and Daniel J. Ehnbom, The Cleveland Tuti-nama Manuscript and the Origins of Mughal Painting (Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art; Chicago: The David and Alfred Smart Gallery, The University of Chicago, 1976), 31-52, 69-85.

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

Week 1.          Jan. 21-23. Introduction to theories of narrative.
Readings: Murray 1998; Paine and Soper 1985.

Week 2.          Jan. 28-30. Asian modes of organizing visual narratives.
Readings: Dehejia 1990; Akiyama 1989.
This week: LIBRARY ORIENTATION (tentative).

Week 3.          Feb. 4-6.  Life of the historic Buddha.
Readings: Asvaghosa; Schlingloff 1999, 4b-5a, 39b-40a.
This week: RESPONSE PAPER due.

Week 4.          Feb. 11-13.   Jātaka tales.
Readings: Āryaśūra, Once the Buddha Was a Monkey, xi-xix, 5-9, 58-73, 178-192; Schlingloff 1999, 6b-7a, 48b-50a.
This week: QUIZ.        

Week 5.          Feb. 18-20.  Confucian narratives.
Readings: Wu, The Wu Liang Shrine, 167-186, 252-327.
This week: RESEARCH PAPER TOPIC due.

Week 6.          Feb. 25-27.  Goddess of the Luo River and its political interpretations.
Readings: Watson 93-95, 116-121; Shih 1976; Whitaker 1954.
This week: RESPONSE PAPER due.

Week 7.          Mar. 3-5. Tao Yuanming and Chinese politics.
Readings: Watson 123-124, 142-143; Brotherton 2000.
This week: RESPONSE PAPER due.

Week 8.          Mar. 10-12.  Chinese women and Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute.
Readings: Frankel 1983; Leung 2001.
This week: FIRST CREATIVE PROJECT due, Mar. 12.

[March 14-23, SPRING BREAK]

Week 9.          Mar. 24-26. Narrative content of The Tale of Genji.
Readings: Murasaki, “Introduction,” The Tale of Genji, plus chapters to be assigned individually; Miner 1969.
This week: PRESENTATIONS.

Week 10.              Mar. 31-Apr. 2.  The Tale of Genji and Heian handscroll paintings.
Readings: Watanabe 1998.
This week: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR RESEARCH PAPER due.

Week 11.        Apr. 7-9. Supernatural powers and Japanese Buddhist tales.
Readings: Brock 1990 and 1992.
This week: RESPONSE PAPER due.

Week 12.        Apr. 14-16. Night Revels of Han Xizai from 960 to 2000.
Readings: Texts on Han Xizai; Blanchard ms.

Week 13.        Apr. 21-23. Tales of Krishna.
Readings: Archer 1960.
This week: RESPONSE PAPER due.

Week 14.        Apr. 28-30. Akbar’s manuscripts.
Readings: Seyller 2002; Chandra and Ehnbom 1976.
This week: QUIZ.

Week 15.        May 5.  Presentation of SECOND CREATIVE PROJECT.

Finals Week.  May 11. RESEARCH PAPER due.

Course Requirements

1.         Class Participation (15%).  This includes regular and punctual attendance (see attendance policy) and participating in discussions in class or on the Blackboard discussion board. I grade participation on a daily basis, as follows: A for speaking up in class or on the discussion board (even to ask a question or to answer one of my questions incorrectly), B for showing up to class but not speaking, C for not paying attention or coming in late, 0 for not coming to class at all.

2.         Quizzes (10%).  Quizzes are marked on the calendar and cannot be made up.

3.         Response papers (20%).  Throughout the semester you will write several one-page papers responding to some of the readings. More details to follow.

4.         Presentation (5%), due Monday, March 24 or Wednesday, March 26.  This will be a presentation summarizing the content of chapters of The Tale of Genji. More details to follow.

5.         Creative projects (10% and 15%), due Tuesday, March 12 and Monday, May 8.  These will be group projects meant to help you better understand the choices made by a team of artists in representing a story visually. More details to follow.

6.         Research paper (25%), due Sunday, May 11, 2:00pm.  This is to be a longer research paper (roughly 10-15 pages) on the uses of narrative in Asian art. More details to follow.

Office Hours
I am happy to meet with you outside of class during my office hours (see top of syllabus), or at another time that is convenient for you, in 208 Houghton House. The best way to reach me to set up an appointment is by e-mail, but please note that I regularly read e-mail only between 10:00am and 5:00pm.

Attendance Policy
I consider attendance at lectures to be mandatory. Asian art history is a challenging subject; don’t make it impossible by skipping class! That said, if you have a reasonable excuse for missing a class, I expect you to notify me as soon as possible—preferably in advance—and to turn in a one-page essay on the topics covered on the day of your absence, within a week. Not doing so will directly impact your participation grade. If you are absent three times or more, you should be prepared for me to notify the Deans about your performance. I will be taking attendance regularly.

Attendance and Religious Holidays:
“The Colleges accept the responsibility of making available to each student who is absent from class because of religious obligations and practices an equivalent opportunity to make up any examination, study or work requirement missed.”
Please inform me in advance of any religious holidays when you will be out of class. I do my best to avoid religious holidays with regard to due dates, but there are times when that is impossible.  Please talk to me if you have any difficulties!

Format for Written Work
One of the things you will learn in an art history class is the importance of presentation. This applies to your written work as well:

1. Type all work in a 12-point font.
2. Double-space.
3. Leave one-inch margins on all sides.
4. Number your pages.
5. Staple your work.
6. Put your name on every page, and the date on the first page.
7. Please check that your spelling, grammar and punctuation are correct--these are crucial to effective communication of your ideas. I will lower your grade if you have excessive errors. A Pocket Style Manual has helpful chapters titled "Clarity," "Grammar," "Punctuation," and "Mechanics." Read them.
8. If you cite another source, you may use either parenthetical references or footnotes. (See A Note about Plagiarism below.) Make sure that you follow one of the documentation styles explained in A Pocket Style Manual (MLA, APA or Chicago-Style).
9. Include pictures with captions if appropriate (and please attach them to a clean sheet of paper--do not give me loose postcards, illustrations torn from magazines, or copies of the books you found the pictures in. Black-and-white photocopies are okay).

A Note about Cheating and Plagiarism
I will not tolerate any form of academic dishonesty. Not only does it destroy the trust that I have in you to do your best, it is unfair to the other students, and obviously you will not learn anything if you resort to cheating. If I find that you have cheated on a test or on a written assignment, you will receive a zero for the assignment and I will contact the Deans and/or the Committee on Standards about your case.

Now, just in case you are not clear about what plagiarism is: plagiarism is the use of someone else's words or ideas without giving that person credit. In application, this means that in your writing assignments, you need to cite your sources. When quoting directly from a text--say, five words or more in succession--you need to put those words in quotation marks and include a parenthetical reference or footnote citing the source. When rewriting a passage from a text in your own words, you don't need the quotation marks but you do still need the parenthetical reference or footnote. If you don't understand exactly what constitutes plagiarism, or how to use parenthetical references or footnotes, please ask me. I would prefer to explain what it is and how to avoid it before it happens rather than after.

Grading
PLEASE NOTE: I mark down one-third of a letter grade (for example, from A to A-) for each calendar day that a paper is late. I also mark down one-third of a letter grade for every ten mechanical errors (except on the first assignment to be turned in); notice what kinds of mistakes you tend to make on that first assignment, and try not to repeat them.

Quizzes receive a numerical score; the presentation, research paper, creative projects, and participation will receive a letter grade. Response papers will not receive a letter grade, but a check-plus, check, or check-minus. Make-up written assignments, which count as part of your participation grade, will receive a check or a check-minus. If you are unsatisfied with a grade, please prepare a written statement explaining what grade you think you should have received and why, and submit it to me along with the assignment for review.

Assignments are due during the class period on the due date. Please bring me a hard copy: I can no longer accept assignments by e-mail. Again, I mark down for lateness. If you think you will need an extension, you should talk to me as early as possible.

A Note about the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL)
Hobart and William Smith Colleges encourages students to seek the academic collaboration and resources that will enable them to demonstrate their best work. Students who would like to enhance their study skills or writing skills or have other academic inquiries should contact the CTL. You may visit the CTL web site to learn more about the services and programs that are available.
 
If you are a student with a disability for which you may need accommodations, you are required to register with the Coordinator of Disability Services at the CTL and provide documentation of the disability. Services and accommodations will not be provided until this process is complete. The web site for information pertaining to registration with the CTL and documenting disabilities is: http://www.hws.edu/studentlife/stuaffairs_disabilities.aspx.

Websites
There are two websites for this course: one at my homepage; and one at Blackboard. This syllabus, paper and project assignments and links to online resources for Asian art can be found at both. The Blackboard site also has a course calendar, daily handouts, and an online gradebook.