Museum of Words: Interart Poetics in Europe and America

Abstract
Ou Rong et al’s Museum of Words: Interart Poetics in Europe and America (Peking University Press, 2022) offers a comprehensive and innovative study of interart poetics, arguing for its inherently cross-media nature. The book combines historical genealogy—from Aristotelian aesthetics through Enlightenment debates and modern media theory—with comparative analysis of Western and Chinese traditions. Ou introduces the term yigefuhuan (艺格符换) to reconceptualize ekphrasis as a dynamic process of conversion and reciprocity across sign systems. The second part of the volume applies this framework through close readings spanning Homeric texts to contemporary multimedia poetry, highlighting formal, material, and technological dimensions. Methodologically pluralist, the work integrates intellectual history, formal analysis, and digital humanities tools, while acknowledging gaps such as limited engagement with Afro-Atlantic traditions and digital-born forms. Its comparative approach and theoretical rigor make it a landmark contribution to intermedial studies, offering scholars a model for interdisciplinary and cross-cultural research.