Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PHBE (“Placing history before the eyes: enargeia and ekphrasis from ancient historiography to contemporary historical representations”)
Reporting period: 2022-04-22 to 2024-04-21
The project aimed at studying the uses of a rhetorical technique, enargeia or “vividness”, in ancient Greek and Latin historians contemporary to the Second Sophistic (I-III centuries AD) and to our main sources on rhetorical training in Antiquity. It also aimed at establishing parallels with contemporary uses of enargeia in modern historical representations (speeches, movies, video games) and at creating and testing exercises and pedagogical activities based on this technique, in order to develop critical consciousness of its use. Developing such critical eye on modern historical representations (movies, video games,etc.) is of crucial importance, as history may be easily deformed or manipulated through modern technologies.
The project had to be terminated earlier due to the obtention of a permanent position in a French university (which was a possibility anticipated in the career development plan). During the actual duration of the fellowship (16 months), research focused on rhetorical sources on enargeia and related bibliography and explored all relevant Greek sources. Concomitantly, a partnership was created with a local high school and high school teacher, in order to prepare and undertake pedagogical experiments, which took place from March to May 2023.
The project had to be terminated earlier due to the obtention of a permanent position in a French university (which was a possibility anticipated in the career development plan). During the actual duration of the fellowship (16 months), research focused on rhetorical sources on enargeia and related bibliography and explored all relevant Greek sources. Concomitantly, a partnership was created with a local high school and high school teacher, in order to prepare and undertake pedagogical experiments, which took place from March to May 2023.
The WPs planned for the first year of the work plan were WP1, WP2 and concomitant work on WP5.
WP1 consisted of identifying, by close reading of ancient rhetorical sources, criteria which could, in turn, make it possible to identify examples of ekphraseis or uses of enargeia in non-strictly rhetorical sources. This has been made easier thanks to bibliographical research and recent work by scholars like Andrew Feldherr, Vincent Huitink, Jonas Grethlein and Rutger Allan, which have shown connections between ancient enargeia and embodied cognition theory and narrative immersion. These innovative approaches helped me to improve the quality of my reading and to widen the relevant criteria (both thematic and formal, like typical scenes, expressions, and linguistic devices); I have been able to develop and doing so, developing a new method to approach historical works and trying to identify the use of a rhetorical technique. As a result, I have written a paper involving methodological reflection, which will soon be published in the volume mentioned in the next section. I hope that it will open the way to further research on the uses of enargeia (in other literary genres, for instance).
WP2 consisted of applying the above-mentioned criteria and method to historical works contemporary to the Second Sophistic. As I explained in the application documents, though the use of enargeia has been noticed in historians of this period, it is hard to find rhetorical studies on these authors and on the way they actually use the technique (mostly because, from an historical point of view, rhetoric has often been considered as an obstacle to truth). Due to the speciality of the host team, and according to the work plan, I have given priority to Greek historians, and more precisely the so-called Greek historians of Rome: Josephus, Cassius Dio, Appian and Herodian. This research has not only permitted me to unveil specific uses of the technique for some scenes (for instance Cassius Dio often uses extended battle descriptions with enargeia, while Appian maintain a causal and narrative structure and uses enargeia for secondary aspects; Herodian disseminates symbolic and visual clues, especially in murder scenes), but also to establish strong (lexical) connections with exercise manuals and models (like Ps.-Libanios’s models of descriptions). This WP resulted in several presentations in international conferences and the organisation of an international conference on the uses of enargeia in Greek and Latin historians at the Université de Lille. A collective volume, gathering the papers of this conference, will soon be published and I am currently preparing a monograph gathering my research and observations on the above-mentioned authors.
Concomitantly, WP5 consisted of decontextualising the technique and using its features in order to build and test exercises in high schools. This part of the research represents the emerging and promising field of experimental rhetoric, but it is also the first national experiment on enargeia at this level and at such length. Thanks to a partnership with a local high school (Lycée Vandermeersch in Roubaix) and teacher, and first attempts made in January 2022, a set of experiments took place from March to May 2023. The pupils were first introduced to the technique during five course sessions, including two written tasks involving the use of the technique on different topics, and even in a small speech contest. This experiment gave very encouraging results: the pupils were not only able to recognise and reproduce the technique, but also developed a critical look at other productions as well as on their own.
WP1 consisted of identifying, by close reading of ancient rhetorical sources, criteria which could, in turn, make it possible to identify examples of ekphraseis or uses of enargeia in non-strictly rhetorical sources. This has been made easier thanks to bibliographical research and recent work by scholars like Andrew Feldherr, Vincent Huitink, Jonas Grethlein and Rutger Allan, which have shown connections between ancient enargeia and embodied cognition theory and narrative immersion. These innovative approaches helped me to improve the quality of my reading and to widen the relevant criteria (both thematic and formal, like typical scenes, expressions, and linguistic devices); I have been able to develop and doing so, developing a new method to approach historical works and trying to identify the use of a rhetorical technique. As a result, I have written a paper involving methodological reflection, which will soon be published in the volume mentioned in the next section. I hope that it will open the way to further research on the uses of enargeia (in other literary genres, for instance).
WP2 consisted of applying the above-mentioned criteria and method to historical works contemporary to the Second Sophistic. As I explained in the application documents, though the use of enargeia has been noticed in historians of this period, it is hard to find rhetorical studies on these authors and on the way they actually use the technique (mostly because, from an historical point of view, rhetoric has often been considered as an obstacle to truth). Due to the speciality of the host team, and according to the work plan, I have given priority to Greek historians, and more precisely the so-called Greek historians of Rome: Josephus, Cassius Dio, Appian and Herodian. This research has not only permitted me to unveil specific uses of the technique for some scenes (for instance Cassius Dio often uses extended battle descriptions with enargeia, while Appian maintain a causal and narrative structure and uses enargeia for secondary aspects; Herodian disseminates symbolic and visual clues, especially in murder scenes), but also to establish strong (lexical) connections with exercise manuals and models (like Ps.-Libanios’s models of descriptions). This WP resulted in several presentations in international conferences and the organisation of an international conference on the uses of enargeia in Greek and Latin historians at the Université de Lille. A collective volume, gathering the papers of this conference, will soon be published and I am currently preparing a monograph gathering my research and observations on the above-mentioned authors.
Concomitantly, WP5 consisted of decontextualising the technique and using its features in order to build and test exercises in high schools. This part of the research represents the emerging and promising field of experimental rhetoric, but it is also the first national experiment on enargeia at this level and at such length. Thanks to a partnership with a local high school (Lycée Vandermeersch in Roubaix) and teacher, and first attempts made in January 2022, a set of experiments took place from March to May 2023. The pupils were first introduced to the technique during five course sessions, including two written tasks involving the use of the technique on different topics, and even in a small speech contest. This experiment gave very encouraging results: the pupils were not only able to recognise and reproduce the technique, but also developed a critical look at other productions as well as on their own.
The innovation brought by the project mainly lies in the way to approach ancient texts (and especially historiographical texts) and in the field of education and pedagogy. On the one hand, through the identification of rhetorical techniques, historiographical texts may be read as illustrations and testimonies of rhetorical practice and be used as such. Concretely, the research opens the way for rhetorical studies or commentaries of historical texts, which may interest philologists, historians of literature and rhetoric and historians of Antiquity.
On the other hand, pedagogical sequences and exercises created during the project offer new and alternative ways to learn and teach rhetoric in high school or at university. They bring concrete solutions to approach and practise aspects of argumentation and persuasion and contemporary issues (e.g. emotions through discourse, narrative strategies and storytelling, use and manipulation of historical facts…) which are scarcely taken into account in the current school programs (mainly centred on dissertation and commentary). Therefore, they help to reinforce critical thinking as well as writing and speaking skills. This perfectly meets current expectations and transformations of school programs in some European countries (putting emphasis on expression and oral performance), but also European policies in the field of education (development of critical thinking, struggle against all kinds of manipulation through speech, fake news, against radicalism or polarisation).
On the other hand, pedagogical sequences and exercises created during the project offer new and alternative ways to learn and teach rhetoric in high school or at university. They bring concrete solutions to approach and practise aspects of argumentation and persuasion and contemporary issues (e.g. emotions through discourse, narrative strategies and storytelling, use and manipulation of historical facts…) which are scarcely taken into account in the current school programs (mainly centred on dissertation and commentary). Therefore, they help to reinforce critical thinking as well as writing and speaking skills. This perfectly meets current expectations and transformations of school programs in some European countries (putting emphasis on expression and oral performance), but also European policies in the field of education (development of critical thinking, struggle against all kinds of manipulation through speech, fake news, against radicalism or polarisation).