A highly specific historical and cultural argument, we found this critique during the Meiji period in Japan (1868-1912). During this period, many literary authors expressed their opposition to illustration (cf. Illustrations undermine literature’s duty to be pictorial) and, as evidenced by Tsubouchi Shōyo’s comments, some of them perceived illustrations as an obstacle to the development of the modern Japanese novel (in the case of Shōyo, shosetsu.)
Arguing that this new form of prose should transcend the limitations of the senses by communicating directly with the “eyes of the heart” (kokoro no manako), Shōyo—according to Ramos Bassoe—“equates the literary imagination with visual perception.” (30) In this manner, and considering the importance of this literary appeal to the mind and imagination, Shōyo contends that illustrations, conceived here as an element from the past, from the Edo period, have no place in the modern novel. Ramos Bassoe writes:
[Shōyo] characterizes the practice [of illustrations] as nothing more than a hindrance on the path to literary modernity, which has long been stunted due to the predilection for images seen in Japanese fiction.
(Ramos Bassoe 30)
Ramos Bassoe further explains that Edo period fiction often used illustration not as a supplement for descriptive language but rather in place of description itself. Consequently, the examples in “Illustrations undermine literature’s duty to be pictorial” support this critique that explicitly addresses a changing conception of literature.
Works Cited
Ramos Bassoe, Pedro Thiago. [Chapter One] “(Re)Discovering the Joys of Illustrated Fiction: Tsubouchi Shōyo and the Visual Heritage of Japanese Literature.” Eyes of the Heart: Illustration and the Visual Imagination in Modern Japanese Literature. [PhD Thesis] University of California, Berkeley, 2018.
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