What does EKPHRASTIC mean

[Andy Zuntz]

It is used in the acknowledgements of AS BYATT's ELEMENTALS collection of
short stories.

Does anyone know what it means. Used to describe one of the stories, about
the Painter Velasquez

Could anyone who knows this email at an...@zuntz.freeserve.co.uk

Thank you

[N.Mitchum]

Andy Zuntz wrote:
-----

> Does anyone know what it means. Used to describe one of the stories, about
> the Painter Velasquez

>.....

"Ecphrastic" is probably the word you want. It's defined in the
OED as "Adapted to clear away obstructions."

"Ecphrasis" is a "plain explanation or interpretation of a thing."

-----

> Could anyone who knows this email at an...@zuntz.freeserve.co.uk

>.....

Sorry. Newsgroups are for public discussion.

----NM

[nancy g.]

Andy Zuntz wrote:

> It is used in the acknowledgements of AS BYATT's ELEMENTALS
> collection of short stories.

It took me a minute to realize that you're referring to a book
named Elementals, by A.S. Byatt -- but as it turns out, that
knowledge didn't help me figure out what the word means anyway.

I couldn't find "ekphrastic" in any dictionary I have at hand.
However, amazon.com carries a book called Literary Realism and
the Ekphrastic Tradition, by Mack Smith. Their review of this
book says the following:

From Book News, Inc., May 1, 1995
Examines representative texts, including Don Quixote,
Emma, Ulysses, and Gravity's Rainbow, and the theories
of realism upon which they are based. Looks at the way
humanist, rationalist, empiricist, Kantian, and post-
structuralist theories of language are dramatized, and
considers the cultural and personal influences that affect
historical notions of realism. Demonstrates the rhetorical
basis of realism by examining ekphrasis, a narrative
description of a work of art used as a mimetic device
by novelists.
Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

[M.J.Powell]

In article <388105...@lafn.org>, N.Mitchum <aj...@lafn.org> writes

>Andy Zuntz wrote:
>-----
>> Does anyone know what it means. Used to describe one of the stories, about
>> the Painter Velasquez
>>.....
>
>"Ecphrastic" is probably the word you want. It's defined in the
>OED as "Adapted to clear away obstructions."

As in 'Bulldozer'?

Mike
--
M.J.Powell