Cartooning China: "Punch," Power, and Politics in the Victorian Era by Amy Matthewson

Abstract

Reviewed by: Cartooning China: "Punch," Power, and Politics in the Victorian Era by Amy Matthewson Richard Scully (bio) Amy Matthewson, Cartooning China: "Punch," Power, and Politics in the Victorian Era (Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2022), pp. 188, $201.60 hardcover, $62.39 paperback, $56.79 e-book. In an elegant volume of 188 pages, Amy Matthewson achieves precisely what she sets out to do: explore "how Punch used China as a site upon which wider anxieties of Britain's social stratifications, as well as its global position as an imperial power, were both shaped and negotiated" (1). Her attempt to fill the large, China-shaped gap "in the historiography of Punch-ology" is very well handled; Cartooning China can sit comfortably alongside Patrick Leary, Richard Altick, Frank E. Huggett, Arthur Prager, R. G. G. Price, and M. H. Spielmann on the shelves of every serious Punch scholar and institution carrying Victorian periodicals research (1). The third in Routledge's Global Perspectives in Comics Studies series, this monograph distinguishes itself as the first to deal specifically with cartoons rather than comic strips, which are the primary focus of most comics studies. That alone is cause for applause. The introduction provides a sound exploration of Matthewson's theoretical framework, including sophisticated engagements with Edward Said, Homi Bhabha, Jürgen Habermas, Stefan Berger, and Victor S. Navasky. This immensely valuable chapter underpins the arrival of comics studies in the academy more broadly and should serve as a useful model for future scholars and students looking to undertake work on similar themes. The introduction also contains some excellent statistical materials, including circulation figures derived from the online Punch Archive (something scholars used to have to obtain directly from Andre Gailani at Punch Ltd.) and from Altick's classic 1994 study. Interestingly, these do not match entirely with those presented in my own Eminent Victorian Cartoonists (2018), indicating that the issue of circulation is by no means settled. Matthewson also makes a notable statistical point about the prevalence of "Large Cut" cartoons in relation to the supposed preoccupations of Victorian society and presents a helpful table that future scholars might imitate with regard to Punch's concentration on other themes or subjects (such as France or Germany, aspects of fashion, or ideas of race) (18). The chapters of Cartooning China are ideally suited to the scholar of Victorian periodicals. In chapter 1 the legacy of Leary's great study, The Punch Brotherhood (2010), is clear in Matthewson's own exploration of the editorial table and its workings. Henry Silver's diary is a major touchstone of the chapter, as is the George S. Layard version of Shirley Brooks's diaries and papers and Linley Sambourne's own diary. Thus, Matthewson provides what may be the first scholarly engagement with Punch's surviving [End Page 469] archival editorial record across the whole 1850s–1900s period. In that sense, she goes further than Leary in exploring the authors, artists, and editors of the magazine in a diverting refresher (for some) on the way the Punch table functioned. New statistical research—including the number of cartoons contributed by Punch's chief artists between 1841 and 1894—contributes to the book's scholarly depth and breadth and underscores the value of Cartooning China as a reference work for future scholars. Chapter 2 explores the "attitude of the magazine," something difficult to do, but Matthewson handles it well (49). The "move away from scurrility" and towards the sensibilities and respectability of the Victorian middle classes is the essential context for exploring Punch's attitudes to empire, race, gender, and class, as expressed in the Large Cuts (49). Again, Leary's influence is evident, as Matthewson shows how the success of Punch's cartoons was dependent upon "tapping into readers' political awareness" and presenting images that were "clean, comical, and attractive" (66). Although the first chapters are largely contextual, Matthewson keeps the focus on issues and themes specific to China. As such, although chapter 3 is really the first to get down to business and observe Punch's "Chinese Puzzle," one does not get the sense of an article or two cobbled together or bulked up to create a monograph...