Rhetoric beyond Words

Delight and Persuasion in the Arts of the Middle Ages

Mary Carruthers editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:5th Dec '13

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Rhetoric beyond Words cover

This book analyses collaborative activities across the visual arts to show the power of non-verbal rhetoric in the Middle Ages.

In this book, eleven essays by leading scholars of music, liturgy, literature, manuscript production and architecture analyse how the medieval arts invited collaborative performances designed to persuade. Using concepts derived from rhetoric to analyse specific examples, the essays show the immense power of those forms of rhetoric which are 'beyond words'.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.

'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 Rhetoric

ISBN: 9781107647770

Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 18mm

Weight: 440g

332 pages