Rhetoric beyond Words
Delight and Persuasion in the Arts of the Middle Ages
Published on 5. December 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
332 pages
978-1-107-64777-0 (ISBN)
Description
In the Middle Ages, liturgies, books, song, architecture and poetry were performed as collaborative activities in which performers and audience together realized their work anew. In this book, essays by leading scholars analyse how the medieval arts invited and delighted in collaborative performances designed to persuade. The essays cast fresh light on subjects ranging from pilgrim processions within Chartres Cathedral, to polyphonic song, and the 'rhetoric of silence' perfected by the Cistercians. Rhetoric is defined broadly in this book to encompass its relationship to its sister arts of music, architecture, and painting, all of which use materials and media in addition to words, sometimes altogether without words. Contributors have concentrated on those aspects of formal rhetoric that are performative in nature, the sound, gesture and facial expressions of persuasive speech in action. Delivery (performance) is shown to be at the heart of rhetoric, that aspect of it which is indeed beyond words.
Reviews / Votes
'Mary Carruthers and the contributors to this volume have produced an extraordinary collection of essays, rich and complex with thematic intercon- nections andmany avenues for further exploration ... readers will find Carruthers' collection a remarkable resource not only for historical and textual studies, but also for insights into medieval culture, worship, and performance through the art of rhetoric.' Elza C. Tiner, Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of RhetoricMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
7 Printed music items; 2 Tables, black and white; 23 Halftones, unspecified; 6 Line drawings, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
482 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-107-64777-0 (9781107647770)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
04/2010
Cambridge University Press
€129.80
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Mary Carruthers is Remarque Professor of Literature, New York University, and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.
Content
Editor's introduction Mary Carruthers; 1. 'Working by words alone': the architect, scholasticism and rhetoric in thirteenth-century France Paul Binski; 2. Grammar and rhetoric in Late Medieval polyphony: modern metaphor or old simile? Margaret Bent; 3. Nature's forge and mechanical production: writing, reading, and performing song Elizabeth Eva Leach; 4. Rhetorical strategies in the pictorial imagery of fourteenth century manuscripts: the case of the Bohun Psalters Lucy Freeman Sandler; 5. Do actions speak louder than words? The scope and role of pronuntiatio in the Latin rhetorical tradition, with special reference to the Cistercians Jan M. Ziolkowski; 6. Vultus Adest (the face helps): performance, expressivity, and interiority Monika Otter; 7. Special delivery: were medieval letter writers trained in performance? Martin Camargo; 8. The concept of ductus, or, journeying through a work of art Mary Carruthers; 9. Ductus and memoria: Chartres Cathedral and the workings of rhetoric Paul Crossley; 10. Ductus figuratus et subtilis: rhetorical interventions for women in two twelfth-century liturgies William T. Flynn; 11. Terribilis est locus iste: the Pantheon in 609 Susan Rankin.