Ekphrasis Revisited: Crossing Artistic Boundaries.

Abstract

In the context of the preeminence of relationality in contemporary literature and criticism, the concept of ekphrasis is undergoing a process of revision that points to the broadening of the scope of the interartistic dialogue, and to the current prevalence of a semiotic turn in the aesthetic and critical appraisal of the arts and their intersections. Nowadays, writers and critics alike are paying special attention to the interdisciplinary potential of literary creativity and theory, going beyond seemingly well-established assumptions such as the notion of the “two cultures”, or the narrow view of intertextuality as a practice restricted to the purely textual medium. The growing appeal of this cross-boundary perspective is clearly reflected in the changing reformulations of the classical strategy of ekphrasis, which becomes the focus of study of the present contribution. This chapter addresses contemporary revisions of ekphrasis in the context of the interaction between the verbal and the visual as a major ground for the development of interartistic relationships. In the light of this, the critical interest in the confluence between word and image, in the ut pictura poesis tradition, will be explored first, focusing then on recent approaches to the ekphrastic strategy that challenge the limits traditionally imposed on the arts.