The Subtle Subtext : : Hidden Meanings in Literature and Life / / Laurent Pernot.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2021 English
• VerfasserIn: Pernot, Laurent,
• MitwirkendeR: Higgins, W. E.,
• Place / Publishing House: University Park, PA : : Penn State University Press, , [2021]; ©2021
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (180 p.)

Subtexts are all around us. In conversation, business transactions, politics, literature, philosophy, and even love, the art of expressing more than what is explicitly said allows us to live and move in the world. But rarely do we reflect on this subterranean dimension of communication.In this book, renowned classicist and scholar of rhetoric Laurent Pernot explores the fascinating world of subtext. Of the two meanings present in any instance of double meaning, Pernot focuses on the meaning that is unstated—the meaning that counts. He analyzes subtext in all its multifarious forms, including allusion, allegory, insinuation, figured speech, irony, innuendo, esoteric teaching, reading between the lines, ambiguity, and beyond. Drawing on examples from figures as varied as Homer, Shakespeare, Molière, Proust, Foucault, and others, as well as from popular culture, Pernot shows how subtext can be identified and deciphered as well as how prevalent and essential it is in human life.With erudition, wit, and intelligence, Pernot explains and clarifies a device of language that we use and understand every day without even realizing it. The Subtle Subtext is a book for anyone who is interested in language, literature, hidden meanings, and the finer points of social relations.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- 1 Subtexts All Around Us -- 2 The Rhetoric of Figured Speech -- 3 The Hermeneutics of Suspicion -- 4 Risks and Safeguards of Interpretation -- 5 Greek Pretenses About Rome -- 6 An Ox on the Tongue -- 7 Sexorama -- 8 What About Being Frank? -- 9 Catalog of Further Examples and Practices -- A Final Word -- Translator’s Note on Citations -- Notes -- Index