And What Does This Silence Say? The Rhetoric of the Visible - Art and Visual Culture

French Literature Reviews - 2026

And What Does This Silence Say? The Rhetoric of the Visible
Art and Visual Culture

And What Does This Silence Say? The Rhetoric of the Visible

Anne SURGERS

Presses de la Sorbonne nouvelle

2007

ISBN: 978-2-87854-350-5

380 pages

64 €

Publisher's overview:

Before writing became the primary medium for thought and knowledge, the image was an essential means of transmitting discourse. And What Does This Silence Say? serves as a tool for reading and interpreting this mute language of painting, architecture, and theatrical set design, dating from a time when images constituted an autonomous discourse rather than mere illustrations of the verbal. Designed like a dictionary, the book allows readers to chart their own course based on their questions and interests: are they looking for the meaning of a rhetorical term? Its practical application? Or perhaps they wish to examine the composition of one of the many reproductions featured across the various entries. Everything is designed to help readers lose and find themselves in this Treasury of Figures in the Rhetoric of the Visible, where silence speaks with eloquence.

The study of visual rhetoric traces its roots to classical traditions where the image functioned as a primary vehicle for knowledge and cultural transmission. Long before the dominance of the written word, visual compositions in architecture and painting were structured through complex systems of signs and figures. And What Does This Silence Say? The Rhetoric of the Visible explores how these visual elements function as an autonomous discourse. Readers interested in the intersection of classical rhetoric and visual arts may find this exploration of the silent language of images relevant to their research.

The organization of And What Does This Silence Say? The Rhetoric of the Visible reflects a broader intellectual interest in the classification of symbolic systems. By treating visual elements as a treasury of figures, the book mirrors the structure of historical rhetorical manuals that categorized tropes and devices to aid in interpretation. This approach highlights the ways in which theatrical set design and fine arts once operated within a shared language of representation, examining how silence in the visual arts functions as a form of expression within the history of aesthetics.