Narrativity - storytelling - reference: on some fundamental distinctions in the discussion of images

Abstract

44 years after the first – and so far, last – major publication on the issue of the narrative function(ing) of ancient Egyptian images, N. Braun’s Bilder erzählen. Visuelle Narrativität im alten Ägypten sets out to explore this field anew. On the basis of this monograph, this article discusses trends and problems in the discussion of visual narrativity and pictorial narration in ancient Egypt and other (visual) cultures. Part I gives an overview of the book and presents the author’s main hypotheses. Part II introduces three major problems that lead to contradictions in many narratological analyses of images and to the almost complete neglect of basic characteristics of the perception of images. In Part III the model of visual narrativity developed by the reviewer himself is introduced. By establishing a systematic distinction between visual narrativity and pictorial narration (or storytelling) it avoids many difficulties of previous studies. Part IV looks into the contexts of particularly strongly narrative images in ancient Egypt, especially in the New Kingdom (ca. 1550–1050 B.C.), and into the use of images to tell stories by themselves.