Abstract

Contemporary lyric series deploy many strategies from forensic (courtroom) rhetoric to persuade their readers that an injustice has taken place. Ekphrasis is one of the primary overlapping strategies in both forensic rhetoric and the lyric, documenting what cannot be seen, what has been lost, or framing an object to serve persuasive ends. Returning to ancient definitions of ekphrasis as any kind of vivid description expands ekphrasis’s scope from a “verbal representation of visual representation” to include descriptions of people and events. This article reads ekphrastic descriptions of violence against female bodies in recent poems by Natasha Trethewey, Tyehimba Jess, and Maggie Nelson to demonstrate how poets use the evidentiary function of ekphrasis. Documentary poets treat ekphrasis as a form of testimony, simultaneously subjective and factual. This article shows how ekphrasis straddles the boundary between the world as a material reality and our conceptions of it, inhabiting the liminal space where interpretation and ethical formation transpire. By composing imaginative ekphraseis of unavailable evidence, documentary poets challenge the hegemonic powers of the archive and empower us to imagine “what the body can say.” By positioning ekphrasis within the frame of forensic rhetoric, documentary poetry transforms the reader into a witness.

摘要

当代抒情系列从法医（法庭）修辞中部署了许多策略，以说服读者相信发生了不公正。Ekphrasis 是法医修辞和抒情诗中主要的重叠策略之一，它记录看不见的东西、丢失的东西，或构筑一个对象以达到有说服力的目的。回到 ekphrasis 的古代定义作为任何一种生动的描述都会将 ekphrasis 的范围从“视觉表现的口头表示”扩展到包括对人和事件的描述。本文阅读了 Natasha Trethewey、Tyehimba Jess 和 Maggie Nelson 近期诗歌中对暴力侵害女性身体的 ekphrar 描述，以展示诗人如何使用 ekphrasis 的证据功能。纪录片诗人将 ekphrasis 视为一种既主观又事实的证词。本文展示了 ekphrasis 如何跨越作为物质现实的世界与我们对它的概念之间的界限，居住在解释和伦理形成发生的界限空间中。通过用无法获得的证据创作富有想象力的 ekphraseis，纪实诗人挑战了档案的霸权力量，并使我们能够想象“身体可以说什么”。通过将 ekphrasis 置于法医修辞的框架内，纪实诗歌将读者转变为见证人。纪录片诗人挑战档案的霸权力量，并赋予我们想象“身体能说什么”的能力。通过将 ekphrasis 置于法医修辞的框架内，纪实诗歌将读者转变为见证人。纪录片诗人挑战档案的霸权力量，并赋予我们想象“身体能说什么”的能力。通过将 ekphrasis 置于法医修辞的框架内，纪实诗歌将读者转变为见证人。