本研究試圖從古典語藝學的傳統中,追溯並界定視覺語藝的發展脈絡與其所示現的語藝動能。首先,透過對羅馬語藝學者Cicero 和Quintilian的論著加以綜整,本研究發現基於語文訊息建構的「語藝五大要素」本就底蘊著視覺性。其次,藉由Mikhail Bakhtin在「文法修辭學」中對於小說視覺化和時間性的勾勒與對比研究,本研究指出視覺語藝的行動策略與效應,乃立基於拒斥絕對過去、立基未決當下、放眼開放未來的修辭/風格。值此,本研究主張視覺語藝在對話敦促、認同誘發、和現狀超克之際所實踐的動態循環的語藝倡議,乃是亙古流長且無法取代的問題意識與「技巧的脈絡」。
This essay aims to explore and delimit the classical strand of visual rhetoric and its demonstration. First, it attempts to clarify that "visuality has always been integral to rhetorical consciousness." This is done by critically reviewing the rhetorical theories and related literatures of the Roman rhetoricians Cicero and Quintilian. This review demonstrates that the so-called "five canons of rhetoric," originally derived from verbal and spoken rhetorical tradition, effectively bridge the gap between the philosophical and sophistic strands by reviving the principle of the imitation of the technical strand. To enhance the recognition of visual rhetoric as action-oriented, the author refers to the Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin, and specifically his study on novelistic time in stylistics of grammar. This approach can address the specific timeline deployed by rhetors to refuse the absolute past, focus on unfinalized contemporary reality, and look forward to an open future. In conclusion, the author mentions that the dynamics and rhetorical efficacy embodied by visual rhetoric involve encouraging dialogue, inducing identification and breaking abeyance. These might be the lasting and irreplaceable problematization and specificity that exist in visual rhetoric not only in contemporary reality but also in ancient times.