Narratives of Kingship in Eurasian Empires, 1300–1800, by Richard van Leeuwen

Abstract

Richard van Leeuwen’s book offers an intriguing contribution to the understanding of Asian and European forms of kingship across what might be called the very long early modern period (1300–1800). It does so essentially from a literary studies perspective, which means that this reviewer will not be able to offer a proper appraisal of many aspects of it. My purpose is rather to consider what the book might contribute to the comparative study of kingship itself. The author’s background is in Arabic literature, and the stories of the One Thousand and One Nights represent a recurrent point of reference, but the book ranges much more widely across Persian, Urdu, Turkish, Sanskrit, Malay, Chinese and European narratives. That all bar the Arabic, French, German and English works are used in translation perhaps makes for an unusual methodology within literary studies, but is surely unavoidable in such a wide-ranging and welcome comparative exercise. Moreover, its narratological focus is generally not beholden to the subtleties of close reading. The author acknowledges the risks involved in this exercise, and is if anything rather determinedly frank at possible limitations of the method, but the book certainly succeeds on its own terms.