This round table is part of the exhibition "The Stuff of Narrative – New Perspectives on Literature", product of a collaboration between EXC 2020 and the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.

How can a painted folding screen turn a story from the 11th century into a spatial experience? And how does a narrative change when it moves from text to object, from page to painted panel? 

Taking a Japanese byōbu with scenes from The Tale of Genji as their starting point, Japanese Studies scholars Berfu Şengün (University of Zurich), Dr. Sebastian Balmes (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) and Dr. Nora Usanov-Geißler explore how a painted folding screen can turn a tale from the Heian Period into a visual, spatial experience, and how literature unfolds through images.