Images in (Con)Text. Intermedial and Intersemiotic Paradigms of Representation in the Old Media

<p>The rise and constant development of new media have made us more aware of the overwhelming presence of images. This is a striking characteristic of the era that W. J. T. Mitchell referred to as the Pictorial Turn and Gottfried Boehme as Ikonische Wende. Yet the questions of meaning creation and interpretation across media, modalities, and sign systems have not been fully studied and explained in the domain of the old media. The theorisation of mixed media has contributed to reviving scholarly debates on the image-word relation, demonstrating the ideologically loaded discourses that underlie conceptual oppositions such as nature/convention, space/time, iconic/symbolic, epistemic/rhetoric. In light of theoretical reflections on visuality proposed by scholars across different disciplines, this study sets out to frame intermediality and multimodality within the word-image paradigms. In doing so, it seeks to demonstrate that a ‘dialectic of the dialogic reason’, as intermedial and multimodal frameworks entail, is more useful for critical analysis than a dialectic of stark oppositions. Indeed, an either/or logic underlies the age-old word-image paragone itself: the very rhetoric, in other words, of the epistemic turns (such as the Pictorial Turn), and the ontological monism that governs Western traditions. In particular, this study examines the word-image relation from four different perspectives: 1) as a dialectics built on hegemonic discourses and specific regimes of representation. 2) as situated between media and semiotic modalities in the old media and thus as essentially intermedial and multimodal; 3) as a translation process; 4) as a semiotic relation that requires complementary notions – such as Bakhtin’s dialogue, the hyphos, the rhizome – to be appreciated in full; These perspectives intertwine and complement each other, illuminating the complexity of the ways in which words and images interact: an interaction that cannot be reduced to total correspondence (ut pictura poësis) or total disagreement (paragone). Methodologically, this argument is developed in three stages. First, I analyse intermediality and multimodality from the perspective of media studies, using the semiotic theories of Charles S. Peirce and others. Second, I demonstrate that intermedial and multimodal creation is in its essence a logically abductive process, as formulated by Peirce. This process illustrates how intermedial and multimodal creation are fundamentally rhizomatic, to revisit Deleuze and Guattari’s definition. Third, I examine the intersemiotic recoding from one sign system to another as an act of translation. Since the dialectic unfolding in any act of translation is fundamentally dialogic and open to alterity, it follows that intermediality and multimodality play a pivotal role in disrupting the parameters of ontological monism that scholars have traditionally used to evaluate the word-image relation. Finally, this study provides a deeper as well as a wider insight into word-image debates by proposing additional conceptual frameworks for and definitions of multimodality, intermediality and mediality of culture. Indeed, the interconnectedness of all semiospheres – as particularly emphasised by the notion of mediality of culture – means that the image-word relation must be examined both within and outside the traditional literary field of analysis. In view of this, I have integrated definitions from literary criticism, Visual Culture Studies, media theory, theological and postmodern semiotics, art history and aesthetic theory. The three exempla examined illustrate the problem of ontological monism in the word-image relation, advocating for a dialogic approach to the essentially rhizomatic processes of intermedial and multimodal translation. In Chapter 1, I introduce the paragone between the visual and the verbal as interpreted in postmodern literary works, which allow me to articulate the slow transition from the Linguistic Turn to the Pictorial Turn. Antonio Tabucchi’s Il gioco del rovescio and Daniele Del Giudice’s Nel museo di Reims are quintessential examples of the ambiguous translation of the visual into the verbal, which underlies the epistemology dismantling the ut pictura poësis model of representation. The irreducibility of the word-image relation to paradigms of correspondence and the distance between source and target text do not compromise the possibility of dialogue and translation: mimetic translation is still achievable. In Chapter 2, I focus on how the poetics of representation of Antonio Tabucchi and Fra Angelico interact and intersect in the creative meaning making space I refer to as ‘intermedial difference’. In Chapter 3, I develop the notion of intermedial difference further through the study of the artist as a double (or multi-) talent, and the peculiar convergence of genres in the form of the ex voto. The intermedial encounter between the eclectic and innovative Dino Buzzati and the avant-gardist Yves Klein illuminates two aspects. First, the role of abductive creation; second, the need for a dialogic approach that includes elements of Otherness. In turn, these analyses warrant the reassessment of interpretive categories dominated by the logic of ontological monism and the paradigm of identity in representation. In conclusion, this study of intermediality and multimodality in the old media contributes to shedding light on the word-image relation from an epistemological perspective. More specifically, it widens and deeps the ways in which the dialectic of alterity versus identity can be understood and interpreted within word-image paradigms. Moreover, this interdisciplinary research radically reframes the role of intermedial and multimodal creation as catalyst for the introduction of elements of otherness – which are not only indispensable to open up new ways of meaning creation but also, and above all, to continuously (and creatively) unsettle monist and purist epistemologies – and offers a new, integrated methodological framework to accommodate and celebrate the hybridity of all cultural formations.</p>

Images in (Con)Text. Intermedial and Intersemiotic Paradigms of Representation in the Old Media

<p>The rise and constant development of new media have made us more aware of the overwhelming presence of images. This is a striking characteristic of the era that W. J. T. Mitchell referred to as the Pictorial Turn and Gottfried Boehme as Ikonische Wende. Yet the questions of meaning creation and interpretation across media, modalities, and sign systems have not been fully studied and explained in the domain of the old media. The theorisation of mixed media has contributed to reviving scholarly debates on the image-word relation, demonstrating the ideologically loaded discourses that underlie conceptual oppositions such as nature/convention, space/time, iconic/symbolic, epistemic/rhetoric. In light of theoretical reflections on visuality proposed by scholars across different disciplines, this study sets out to frame intermediality and multimodality within the word-image paradigms. In doing so, it seeks to demonstrate that a ‘dialectic of the dialogic reason’, as intermedial and multimodal frameworks entail, is more useful for critical analysis than a dialectic of stark oppositions. Indeed, an either/or logic underlies the age-old word-image paragone itself: the very rhetoric, in other words, of the epistemic turns (such as the Pictorial Turn), and the ontological monism that governs Western traditions. In particular, this study examines the word-image relation from four different perspectives: 1) as a dialectics built on hegemonic discourses and specific regimes of representation. 2) as situated between media and semiotic modalities in the old media and thus as essentially intermedial and multimodal; 3) as a translation process; 4) as a semiotic relation that requires complementary notions – such as Bakhtin’s dialogue, the hyphos, the rhizome – to be appreciated in full; These perspectives intertwine and complement each other, illuminating the complexity of the ways in which words and images interact: an interaction that cannot be reduced to total correspondence (ut pictura poësis) or total disagreement (paragone). Methodologically, this argument is developed in three stages. First, I analyse intermediality and multimodality from the perspective of media studies, using the semiotic theories of Charles S. Peirce and others. Second, I demonstrate that intermedial and multimodal creation is in its essence a logically abductive process, as formulated by Peirce. This process illustrates how intermedial and multimodal creation are fundamentally rhizomatic, to revisit Deleuze and Guattari’s definition. Third, I examine the intersemiotic recoding from one sign system to another as an act of translation. Since the dialectic unfolding in any act of translation is fundamentally dialogic and open to alterity, it follows that intermediality and multimodality play a pivotal role in disrupting the parameters of ontological monism that scholars have traditionally used to evaluate the word-image relation. Finally, this study provides a deeper as well as a wider insight into word-image debates by proposing additional conceptual frameworks for and definitions of multimodality, intermediality and mediality of culture. Indeed, the interconnectedness of all semiospheres – as particularly emphasised by the notion of mediality of culture – means that the image-word relation must be examined both within and outside the traditional literary field of analysis. In view of this, I have integrated definitions from literary criticism, Visual Culture Studies, media theory, theological and postmodern semiotics, art history and aesthetic theory. The three exempla examined illustrate the problem of ontological monism in the word-image relation, advocating for a dialogic approach to the essentially rhizomatic processes of intermedial and multimodal translation. In Chapter 1, I introduce the paragone between the visual and the verbal as interpreted in postmodern literary works, which allow me to articulate the slow transition from the Linguistic Turn to the Pictorial Turn. Antonio Tabucchi’s Il gioco del rovescio and Daniele Del Giudice’s Nel museo di Reims are quintessential examples of the ambiguous translation of the visual into the verbal, which underlies the epistemology dismantling the ut pictura poësis model of representation. The irreducibility of the word-image relation to paradigms of correspondence and the distance between source and target text do not compromise the possibility of dialogue and translation: mimetic translation is still achievable. In Chapter 2, I focus on how the poetics of representation of Antonio Tabucchi and Fra Angelico interact and intersect in the creative meaning making space I refer to as ‘intermedial difference’. In Chapter 3, I develop the notion of intermedial difference further through the study of the artist as a double (or multi-) talent, and the peculiar convergence of genres in the form of the ex voto. The intermedial encounter between the eclectic and innovative Dino Buzzati and the avant-gardist Yves Klein illuminates two aspects. First, the role of abductive creation; second, the need for a dialogic approach that includes elements of Otherness. In turn, these analyses warrant the reassessment of interpretive categories dominated by the logic of ontological monism and the paradigm of identity in representation. In conclusion, this study of intermediality and multimodality in the old media contributes to shedding light on the word-image relation from an epistemological perspective. More specifically, it widens and deeps the ways in which the dialectic of alterity versus identity can be understood and interpreted within word-image paradigms. Moreover, this interdisciplinary research radically reframes the role of intermedial and multimodal creation as catalyst for the introduction of elements of otherness – which are not only indispensable to open up new ways of meaning creation but also, and above all, to continuously (and creatively) unsettle monist and purist epistemologies – and offers a new, integrated methodological framework to accommodate and celebrate the hybridity of all cultural formations.</p>

Intersecções entre escrita e imagem em A coleção particular, de Georges Perec

O artigo tem como objetivo estudar as relações que se estabelecem entre literatura/escrita e pintura/imagem na novela A coleção particular, do escritor francês Georges Perec, de modo a perceber e analisar as intersecções entre elas ao longo da narrativa. A fim de compor seu labirinto, Perec retoma a polêmica do Ut pictura poesis (“Um poema é como um quadro”) e as disputas entre pintura e literatura no interior do campo artístico, buscando refletir sobre o jogo de poder nesse cenário. Neste sentido, literatura/escrita e pintura/imagem são, na novela de Perec, potencialidades que jogam juntas e se complementam mutuamente, oferecendo mais caminhos ao leitor.

Ut Architectura Poesis

This chapter investigates the analogy between architecture and literature, exploring the metaphors of the analogy and focusing on British examples. Renaissance architectural theory drew analogies with music, painting, or poetry, and developed these in progressively greater detail. The Horatian doctrine ut pictura poesis was restated in terms of architecture. The chapter then looks at shared number symbolisms. Numbers shared gave the ut architectura poesis doctrine a demonstrable basis. The chapter also considers the symmetry, analogies, and allegory in Renaissance poetry. It explores Renaissance shape poems, as well as the metaphor of the Renaissance frontispiece, which often resembled architectural (especially theatrical) façades. Finally, it examines the importance of Solomon’s Temple in the temple–poem metaphor.

Wisława Szymborska and ut pictura poesis

Wisława Szymborska is considered an artist in whose poetry the ekphrasis plays a key role. Szymborska wrote numerous works that fall into this context as a genre linking literature and the fine arts, and representing a literary description of a painting. Among Shimborska’s favorite artists are Vermeer, Rubens, Bruegel and Hiroshige Utagawa.

Écfrasis: La estética pictórica en la obra rubendariana

El propósito del presente ensayo ha sido fundamentar, a base de un análisis, la relación existente entre la poesía de Rubén Darío y la pintura. Se partió desde el precepto “ut pictura poesis” de Horacio y del concepto de la écfrasis, que, desde los tiempos de los clásicos grecolatinos, han guiado el estudio sobre la naturaleza y correspondencia de las denominadas artes hermanas: La poesía y la pintura. Para trabajar dicha tesis se hizo una selección de obras de carácter ecfrástico, tanto poemas como cuentos, con la intención de identificar los principales símbolos literarios y poéticos que remiten a la pintura, y así fuera posible confirmar y analizar la riqueza de la Obra Rubendariana en cuanto a los rasgos pictóricos que la residen.

“Cada letra isolada era um desenho”: caligrafia, estética e iconografia em Baú de Ossos

A obra de Pedro da Silva Nava (1903-1984) fornece incomparável panorama sobre o século XX no Brasil. Este artigo examina menções à escrita em Baú de Ossos (1972), no contexto cultural brasileiro do início do novecentos. Com base no conceito de ut pictura poesis, o objetivo do estudo é mostrar que Pedro Nava aludiu ao aspecto gráfico da escrita cursiva, palavra escrita e signos em espaço público, com enfoque estético, lirismo e humor, em episódios de memórias de infância e perfis biográficos. A análise indica que ele considerou os estilos de caligrafia recursos de interação social, expressão artística e psicológica.

The Worker in the Landscape: Constable, Marx, Poetry

Since John Berger's Ways of Seeing (1972) Marxist criticism of John Constable has criticised his landscapes as ‘Tory’ mystifications of the condition of the agricultural worker. This essay challenges this Marxist approach by returning to the philosophical basis of the traditional approach to painting to which Constable subscribed: ut pictura poesis. It is argued that his relation of poetry to landscape seeks to emphasize the importance of agricultural labour to all human activity and by uniting the diurnal with the demotic enhances the status of the common worker. In this respect Marxist criticism, properly applied, should read Constable positively. By altering perception of the importance of labour Constable, like early Wordsworth, or Blake and Shelley, is a potentially revolutionary artist.